At the beginning there was a convention line....
Howdy from Anime Boston 2008 and first let me just say that this year even though like always the crew enjoyed the festivities that some of us [and by us I mean me] turned off the overly excited fangirl perception and really wanted to look at it from the eyes of a professional.
This year...even though as members of the press MagicMystic and I do get the priviledge to jump lines so we can cover a plethora of things for out audiences' pleasure. However for those who cannot do this, they are subjected to the line. Now I know what you all are thinking.. "So What?" or "There are lines at all conventions what makes this any different?" Well I will tell you. For all the years I've attended AB...the lines were not nearly this long. Each line had a designated ETBP [Estimated Time for Badge Pickup] as I walked around a notice that the normal excited buzz that usually befalls the halls of the Hynes Convention Center. What I did see was...misery...despair...and a lot of people who were probably cursing their shoe choice....[poor things]
On Friday the registration lines opened at 7am and closed at 10pm. The average wait time in the line for preregistration was approximately 4 to 5 hours. So say roughly if a person traveling cross states arrived at the Hynes at 5pm on the nose had a slim chance to get their badge [and thats only if they prereged!] Unlike those of us who are in the habit of buying our place at any AB early enough to save up for the allotment that follows [getting hotel room, buying parts to a last minute costume, having money not only to buy things in the ever awaited dealers room, but to also eat. for the weekend..there are those "One dayers" who come for one day and desire to register that day be in and be out....
[FAT CHANCE THIS YEAR KIDDOS!]
The ETBP for that was sever to eight hours! [You know what that means!] A person who didn't register online who have to have gotten there extremely early to have gotten their badges. If that wasn't enough to sour the first day...the fact that the new system that registration was on was faulty...printers stopped working..it was complete utter madness. Madness did befall the con goers this year.
I have never run a convention before, and I would never actually want to because I know for the fact that I'm a charasmatic leader and people can and do follow me at times doesn't mean that I know how to effectively do it?! But the consensus thought of some suggestions to make things run smoother next year.
A) Send out printed badges to the congoers as soon as they register! [If it is lost they can notifiy the right con official and have another one resent.
OR
B) Have the badges printed already and have stations with people kind of like an index [adhering to the handle the con goers wants to go by] This would give the con goer a little more responsibility.
The fun stuff about the line stuff was still the same... many of us made line friends and even a little bit more than that. However the newest saving grace to the line was the Tape Line Quotes. [Yes that is what I said!] In the actual room where you could see the registration tables they marked the floor with tape [this is common] However due to the massive...MASSIVE prolonged wait...people did what they do best...MARK SHIT UP [namely the tape previously mentioned] Things that were most common were statements like "That nice man just tickled me" or "The cake is a lie" Some took the liberty of jotting down the time it was at each corner. There was even some pluggage for fellow site owners [ESH.MOBI and ELECTRICSISTAHOOD.COM made their appearances there...and YES I wrote them] Which I'm sure raises the question of...WHY THE FUCK DID YOU STAND IN THE LINE!
My answer is this...
Even if I'm now press...I am first and foremost a con goer. The Line Wait is a rite of passage and I enjoy that. That is why!
The sad thing about this whole slip up is many people missed out on the big event of the evening which was the Cerulean Ball.[Which started at 5:30pm] From the buzz at the line at roughly 6pm the Ball was at capacity already so there was no point in worrying then. If I was to guesstimate the percentage of people who didn't get their badges was probably 50%
Saturdays lines were a lot more controlled and organized but that doesn't excuse the miss of the first day. Many would agree to that so I'm sticking with it!
SHOUT OUT TO THE HARDCORE ANIME LOVERS WHO MADE IT THROUGH THE GREAT WAIT 08!
lets hope that next year isn't "THE NEVERENDING LINE 09' -_-
Howdy from Anime Boston 2008 and first let me just say that this year even though like always the crew enjoyed the festivities that some of us [and by us I mean me] turned off the overly excited fangirl perception and really wanted to look at it from the eyes of a professional.
This year...even though as members of the press MagicMystic and I do get the priviledge to jump lines so we can cover a plethora of things for out audiences' pleasure. However for those who cannot do this, they are subjected to the line. Now I know what you all are thinking.. "So What?" or "There are lines at all conventions what makes this any different?" Well I will tell you. For all the years I've attended AB...the lines were not nearly this long. Each line had a designated ETBP [Estimated Time for Badge Pickup] as I walked around a notice that the normal excited buzz that usually befalls the halls of the Hynes Convention Center. What I did see was...misery...despair...and a lot of people who were probably cursing their shoe choice....[poor things]
On Friday the registration lines opened at 7am and closed at 10pm. The average wait time in the line for preregistration was approximately 4 to 5 hours. So say roughly if a person traveling cross states arrived at the Hynes at 5pm on the nose had a slim chance to get their badge [and thats only if they prereged!] Unlike those of us who are in the habit of buying our place at any AB early enough to save up for the allotment that follows [getting hotel room, buying parts to a last minute costume, having money not only to buy things in the ever awaited dealers room, but to also eat. for the weekend..there are those "One dayers" who come for one day and desire to register that day be in and be out....
[FAT CHANCE THIS YEAR KIDDOS!]
The ETBP for that was sever to eight hours! [You know what that means!] A person who didn't register online who have to have gotten there extremely early to have gotten their badges. If that wasn't enough to sour the first day...the fact that the new system that registration was on was faulty...printers stopped working..it was complete utter madness. Madness did befall the con goers this year.
I have never run a convention before, and I would never actually want to because I know for the fact that I'm a charasmatic leader and people can and do follow me at times doesn't mean that I know how to effectively do it?! But the consensus thought of some suggestions to make things run smoother next year.
A) Send out printed badges to the congoers as soon as they register! [If it is lost they can notifiy the right con official and have another one resent.
OR
B) Have the badges printed already and have stations with people kind of like an index [adhering to the handle the con goers wants to go by] This would give the con goer a little more responsibility.
The fun stuff about the line stuff was still the same... many of us made line friends and even a little bit more than that. However the newest saving grace to the line was the Tape Line Quotes. [Yes that is what I said!] In the actual room where you could see the registration tables they marked the floor with tape [this is common] However due to the massive...MASSIVE prolonged wait...people did what they do best...MARK SHIT UP [namely the tape previously mentioned] Things that were most common were statements like "That nice man just tickled me" or "The cake is a lie" Some took the liberty of jotting down the time it was at each corner. There was even some pluggage for fellow site owners [ESH.MOBI and ELECTRICSISTAHOOD.COM made their appearances there...and YES I wrote them] Which I'm sure raises the question of...WHY THE FUCK DID YOU STAND IN THE LINE!
My answer is this...
Even if I'm now press...I am first and foremost a con goer. The Line Wait is a rite of passage and I enjoy that. That is why!
The sad thing about this whole slip up is many people missed out on the big event of the evening which was the Cerulean Ball.[Which started at 5:30pm] From the buzz at the line at roughly 6pm the Ball was at capacity already so there was no point in worrying then. If I was to guesstimate the percentage of people who didn't get their badges was probably 50%
Saturdays lines were a lot more controlled and organized but that doesn't excuse the miss of the first day. Many would agree to that so I'm sticking with it!
SHOUT OUT TO THE HARDCORE ANIME LOVERS WHO MADE IT THROUGH THE GREAT WAIT 08!
lets hope that next year isn't "THE NEVERENDING LINE 09' -_-
Labels: Anime-Boston, Convention, Pandalicious
« Home