+

[tpod]

Originally Posted by Antiquity

Con operations/events: The biggest problem we had with the convention this year was the way the new organization for events was run. There was the feeling that people were getting shafted out of events because there wasn't enough space. Last year those who participated in the Masquerade were given seats for the auction and this year we were told belatedly that this would not be the case. Because of that none of our group and several other groups got to see the auction (certain members of our group were more irked by this than others, leaving room for the idea of not attending next year at all).

Well, part of the intention behind the new Main Events Ticketing system was to completely do away with the lines that would build up during the event running prior to each Main Event. This would give each attendee the opportunity to get into at least one main event (and possibly all of them) without having to wait in horrid lines.

Please refer to the Main Events Ticketing process as described on our website:

http://www.yaoicon.com/content/view/221/1/

In previous years, the only reason why Cosplay Contest participants were allowed to simply stay in the Main Events room after Cosplay in order to attend the Auction was because otherwise they'd be forced to go to the back of the line and probably not make it into the Auction at all. It was a courtesy the con extended to attendees who, because of their participation in the contest, couldn't exactly sit-out the Cosplay to wait in line.

(and I'd like to also point out that AMV Contest participants were not given preferential seating for Cosplay when the Cosplay would directly follow the AMV Contest)

As the Main Events Ticketing did away with those lines before each event, the practice of allowing Cosplay Contest participants to remain in the room was no longer deemed necessary.

Evidently, you assumed it would continue to be extended; perhaps you should have contacted our Staff prior to the con (or even at the con) to clarify just how the ticketing system might impact Cosplay competitors.

Tracy
Yaoi-Con Staff

[xxxplizit]

Originally Posted by Leishu

Nice post. It's always nice to hear con opinions.

My observation leads to a thought that you might not be inside the yaoi fandom. Is this correct? (Just making sure).

Somewhat correct. However, I am pretty optimistic towards learning what's out there in the Anime culture, which is another reason why I went.

Overall, I had fun in the con.

[Mr. Wendell]

Originally Posted by Eurobeat King

And the game room didn't have ParaPara this year. *sniff*

Considering the size of the game room the CHUG staff was given, we felt that it would take up too much space to have Para Para Paradise. Also, we were very limited to how many televisions we could have in the room, considering we were nearly abusing the power with the televisions and consoles we had.

Guitar Hero III was there for the weekend, and it was quite the hit for the weekend. We tried to put in games that would be popular or be frequently played, which included Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, DDR Supernova 2, and the new Bleach multi-player fighter game on the PS2.

I am appreciative that the gameroom had an open window, a fan, and comfortable sofas, as well as water nearby to quench the thirst of attendees.

As an attendee, I just had a nice time hanging out with friends, meeting new folks, and just relaxing and gaming. My only regret was not taking advantage of the workout room and the hot tub.

[Beramode]

Originally Posted by OniCourseMusha

and fell for traps.

Not to be a dick, but could you stop referring to me that way? I'm a person, thanks - as is anyone else you may find gender or sexually confusing. :P

Even if you don't know or understand anything about me, my gender, or whatever, 'trap' is actually a pretty offensive way to refer to anyone - it's in the same vein as 'freak' or 'thing.'

Cheers.

[Antiquity]

Originally Posted by tpod

Well, part of the intention behind the new Main Events Ticketing system was to completely do away with the lines that would build up during the event running prior to each Main Event. This would give each attendee the opportunity to get into at least one main event (and possibly all of them) without having to wait in horrid lines.

Please refer to the Main Events Ticketing process as described on our website:

http://www.yaoicon.com/content/view/221/1/

In previous years, the only reason why Cosplay Contest participants were allowed to simply stay in the Main Events room after Cosplay in order to attend the Auction was because otherwise they'd be forced to go to the back of the line and probably not make it into the Auction at all. It was a courtesy the con extended to attendees who, because of their participation in the contest, couldn't exactly sit-out the Cosplay to wait in line.

(and I'd like to also point out that AMV Contest participants were not given preferential seating for Cosplay when the Cosplay would directly follow the AMV Contest)

As the Main Events Ticketing did away with those lines before each event, the practice of allowing Cosplay Contest participants to remain in the room was no longer deemed necessary.

Evidently, you assumed it would continue to be extended; perhaps you should have contacted our Staff prior to the con (or even at the con) to clarify just how the ticketing system might impact Cosplay competitors.

Tracy
Yaoi-Con Staff

That would be wonderful and all but we DID talk to staff and the person helping us was not informed of this new policy until it was too late, which naturally caused an even further delay in our own discovery of the news that we would not be extended the same courtesy as last year.

Also, we DID check the site and none of us ran across the news of a new ticketing system. This may be faulted to the fact that we checked at the wrong times but either way, it was not seen and thusly not brought to our attention. It also didn't help that we didn't see a marked time slot for ticketing and we assumed that these blank spaces of time in the schedule were just dead areas of the con to be used for whatever comes to our fancy (rehersal for skits/ cosplay fixing/photoshoots/ eating/ wedding XD). Since the courtyard was sectioned off in its own small corner it never occurred to us that something important may be happening there.

Regardless of your new policy to get rid of lines the real problem lay within the fact that there just doesn't seem to be enough room for the attendees and that three of your biggest events are all being held in the SAME room on the SAME day (back to back). Perhaps if your main events were more spaced out amongst your three days (or two if you don't really want to hold them on Sunday) it might make things flow easier and cause less stress for the need to set up the rooms differently per event.

After all, isn't the reason you created this new policy because people were complaining about not being able to get into events because they were waiting in line for a different event. And the reason they were waiting in line and missing events was because all of the biggest events were being held back to back in the same room on the same day?

Maybe you could hold the AMV on Friday, push the masquerade up earlier in the day on sat (noonish?) and move the Bishie Auction (which is renown for running over its alloted time) to a time slot earlier in the day as well so that a REAL dance can be held. Oh, and by the by, the dance was also its own problem, being very short, only held on one day and not having nearly enough actual dance floor space, but that's another story entirely.

At any rate, however you want to run your con is obviously a decision that your committee has made and decided was the best route based on information we obviously don't have. We're just trying to make a suggestion based on our experience of attending y-con for many years (religiously because y-con is a favorite for us) and our experience with attending other smaller and bigger cons for many years as well.

We have the greatest of faith in you guys to come up with something that will eventually work out for everyone and make your convention far more successful. Please do not take offense to our review, it is simply our opinion based on our own observations without any hard feelings intended.

Thanks for your time!

[DragonKeeper]

I'm just going to be blunt here because thinking about it pisses me off. I HATE THE LOCATION OF THIS CON! The older location was A LOT better.

New Location:

1)No other hotels in site. Freaking expensive to stay at, the parking fee's and taxes jumped the room price from 450 to 650!!!! WTF???? The older location had plenty of hotels to choose from that you couldn't just walk down to for a block or so.

2) No food accommodations in site other than a Rite Aid and a 7/11. The older location had PLENTY of places that you could just walk to for food or grocery shopping.

3) Not many places to go....in fact I was bored most of the time honestly. The last location at least had a bigger area to walk around in. I love YaoiCon period no matter where it is, but this new location sucks honestly.

4) This location was also FARTHER away than the last one. And gas is expensive enough.....the con doesn't need to be FARTHER AWAY than it was last time.

Excuse my irritation if it seems like one big rant, but being a college student and all, the rest of you college students should understand on what we can afford and what we can't. I don't even want to think about what I spent just to go to this con.

So my biggest question is why the heck was the con held at this newer location?

Honestly if the con is put at the same location again next year, I refuse to go unless someone else pays for the freaking room and I just pitch in. I refuse to pay for all those fucking fee's again.

[Eveil]

On the contrary, location distance is actually based on where you are coming from.
For me, coming from around the San Jose area, it's a little closer. Esspecially when I decided to wait going to the bathroom hahahaha



And please stop dropping the f-bomb, I can understand you'e fustrated but your language is very much not appreciated or wanted.
Much more eloquently blunt responses can do without them.

[Duo Monkey]

Originally Posted by DragonKeeper

I'm just going to be blunt here because thinking about it pisses me off. I HATE THE LOCATION OF THIS CON! The older location was A LOT better.

New Location:

1)No other hotels in site. Freaking expensive to stay at, the parking fee's and taxes jumped the room price from 450 to 650!!!! WTF???? The older location had plenty of hotels to choose from that you couldn't just walk down to for a block or so.

2) No food accommodations in site other than a Rite Aid and a 7/11. The older location had PLENTY of places that you could just walk to for food or grocery shopping.

3) Not many places to go....in fact I was bored most of the time honestly. The last location at least had a bigger area to walk around in. I love YaoiCon period no matter where it is, but this new location sucks honestly.

4) This location was also FARTHER away than the last one. And gas is expensive enough.....the con doesn't need to be FARTHER AWAY than it was last time.

Excuse my irritation if it seems like one big rant, but being a college student and all, the rest of you college students should understand on what we can afford and what we can't. I don't even want to think about what I spent just to go to this con.

So my biggest question is why the heck was the con held at this newer location?

Honestly if the con is put at the same location again next year, I refuse to go unless someone else pays for the freaking room and I just pitch in. I refuse to pay for all those fucking fee's again.

Our contract with the old hotels was up. And the Clairon kept double booking the halls. One year a wedding was going on and the other some sort of preist thing. We were all like: Um... These were supposed to be our rooms. Was getting a little awkward. And I think hotel staff was getting much crankier with us in the past year or two. Also you have to consider the cost to the con itself. Buying out blocks of hotel rooms isn't cheap. Nor is renting the rooms. Our problem right now is we're having growing pains. We're getting bigger yet we still don't have quite enough income to get a bigger and better place. All we can ask is that you bear with us as we try to do what we can to accomidate everyone. Hopefully we'll get even bigger and will eventually move to a convention center. But we ain't there yet.

[Eurobeat King]

For food, if you had a car you could've driven to the highway and get off at the next exit, as there was a McDonald's and a sushi-restaurant on El Camino Real. If you didn't have a car, within walking-distance there was the 7-Eleven, and also nearby was a Trader Joe's which they had food you could buy. Friends let me have some of their sushi they bought there and it was delish! The 7-11 was good because it's always open, it's great for those who want to get some snacks or cheap food during the later hours, like after the bishy-auction lets out.

There was also a restaurant nearby called the "Peninsula Grill" and it too was within walking-distance, but somebody said the food there wasn't all that great.

Try rooming with other people to save costs for the hotel room. You can always make a thread here and/or on the Yaoicon website forums, saying you need a place to stay and maybe people will accomodate you.

For parking, if you're not staying at the hotel, or even if you are, you could always try looking for a spot in the residential areas around the hotel. If you're lucky to get a spot, you can park there all weekend for free. I plan to do that next year if Y-con's at the Marriott again.

The distance between the Westin and the new Marriott was only no more than 10 more minutes driving.

[Mistress of SA]

Since I didn't get to check out the game room, that was really helpful and it made me want to make sure I have time to check it out next year. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Mr. Wendell

Considering the size of the game room the CHUG staff was given, we felt that it would take up too much space to have Para Para Paradise. Also, we were very limited to how many televisions we could have in the room, considering we were nearly abusing the power with the televisions and consoles we had.

Guitar Hero III was there for the weekend, and it was quite the hit for the weekend. We tried to put in games that would be popular or be frequently played, which included Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, DDR Supernova 2, and the new Bleach multi-player fighter game on the PS2.

I am appreciative that the gameroom had an open window, a fan, and comfortable sofas, as well as water nearby to quench the thirst of attendees.

As an attendee, I just had a nice time hanging out with friends, meeting new folks, and just relaxing and gaming. My only regret was not taking advantage of the workout room and the hot tub.

[Mistress of SA]

Good answer.

Originally Posted by Eurobeat King

For food, if you had a car you could've driven to the highway and get off at the next exit, as there was a McDonald's and a sushi-restaurant on El Camino Real. If you didn't have a car, within walking-distance there was the 7-Eleven, and also nearby was a Trader Joe's which they had food you could buy. Friends let me have some of their sushi they bought there and it was delish! The 7-11 was good because it's always open, it's great for those who want to get some snacks or cheap food during the later hours, like after the bishy-auction lets out.

There was also a restaurant nearby called the "Peninsula Grill" and it too was within walking-distance, but somebody said the food there wasn't all that great.

Try rooming with other people to save costs for the hotel room. You can always make a thread here and/or on the Yaoicon website forums, saying you need a place to stay and maybe people will accomodate you.

For parking, if you're not staying at the hotel, or even if you are, you could always try looking for a spot in the residential areas around the hotel. If you're lucky to get a spot, you can park there all weekend for free. I plan to do that next year if Y-con's at the Marriott again.

The distance between the Westin and the new Marriott was only no more than 10 more minutes driving.

[LionBoogy]

I personally enjoyed this year's Yaoi-con! It was closer to me, much quieter when not next to the airport, easier to find parking, easier to find food, and plenty of things to see and do throughout the con itself. The look and feel of the hotel really sparked my interest so at least to me, it was a blessing for good cosplay photos in the courtyard and pool area.

- Lionel

[BART Boy]

Originally Posted by DragonKeeper

I'm just going to be blunt here because thinking about it pisses me off. I HATE THE LOCATION OF THIS CON! The older location was A LOT better.

New Location:

1)No other hotels in site. Freaking expensive to stay at, the parking fee's and taxes jumped the room price from 450 to 650!!!! WTF???? The older location had plenty of hotels to choose from that you couldn't just walk down to for a block or so.

2) No food accommodations in site other than a Rite Aid and a 7/11. The older location had PLENTY of places that you could just walk to for food or grocery shopping.

3) Not many places to go....in fact I was bored most of the time honestly. The last location at least had a bigger area to walk around in. I love YaoiCon period no matter where it is, but this new location sucks honestly.

4) This location was also FARTHER away than the last one. And gas is expensive enough.....the con doesn't need to be FARTHER AWAY than it was last time.

Excuse my irritation if it seems like one big rant, but being a college student and all, the rest of you college students should understand on what we can afford and what we can't. I don't even want to think about what I spent just to go to this con.

So my biggest question is why the heck was the con held at this newer location?

Honestly if the con is put at the same location again next year, I refuse to go unless someone else pays for the freaking room and I just pitch in. I refuse to pay for all those fucking fee's again.

I'll be happy to answer these.

1: Many major hotels (IE: Hilton, Marriott, Embassy, etc.) always raise the prices as certain dates you pick get closer, also add the fact that this is a "Airport" type hotel which of course pilots and air attendants will be staying here as well. Mostly because it's mostly last minute and such and well space is limited.

2: As EBK has stated, if you have a car you can drive around based on the location information I wrote up for the convention (ToA & Y-Con) and you would be able to find them without a doubt. Otherwise you could complain to the city about it XD j/k

3: Well it is a new location, of course your going into unknown territory, sometimes when you get a chance and a location happens to be within driving distance (like coming from the sac area, monterey, santa cruz, etc) check around the area, sometimes you'd be surprised with what you can find. Did you know that there is a small mini-park nearby? Across the street from the 7-11? Heck you can have a photoshoot there if you wanted. ^^

4: You can't really control distances of any convention to be honest. Heck Y-Con could go to San Jose if they wanted to, remember if your like the many who travel to AX and saying this is farther away? I think there's something wrong with this picture.

So my biggest question is why the heck was the con held at this newer location?

Contract. Simple word all conventions use for their locations. If the contract expires, the convention has a right to either A: Renew their contract with their current location or B: Move to another location. Remember, most conventions don't want to conflict itself with other events that may take place at the same time as a convention itself. Now we wouldn't want another football group trampling us and challenging us now do we?

This isn't Eyeshield 21 con yet. XD

I hope this'll shed some bit of light into your post. I've enjoyed helping out this convention this year and had a wonderful time. =)

[Andromache]

Ew. I remember that. Apparently the UCLA cheerleaders were complaining because the female con-goers were "looking at them."

Yes, folks, if a vast amount of people all wearing uniforms all show up unexpectedly, we are going to look at you, and we're going to take advantage of the fact that you are wearing tiny, tiny skirts that show your panties off to the crowd in the football stadium. Er.

For us people out of state, that much more gas money isn't a whole lot of issue. If we fly, we're still ending up flying to the same airport. *shrug*

[OniCourseMusha]

I do admit that the past 2 con that was held there I had a blast!!!

And forgot to mention, the pie at HEIDI!!!! DAMN IT, BART BOY!! WHY IS IT SOOOOO GOOD!?!?