My Pros and Cons of the...Con!

[ProfessorPher]

Hey, any word yet on the official number of attendees? I heard it was over the estimated 4,000 or so, and I'm curious!

According to one of the staff members, it was about 2500.

[Kariudo]

Hey, any word yet on the official number of attendees? I heard it was over the estimated 4,000 or so, and I'm curious!

According to one of the staff members, it was about 2500.

That particular staffer kinda highballed it. The initial count came out to right around 2300.

[Linktube]

I personally LOVED the con but like all things it has issues. I was upset that the con had a theme but in no way expressed that theme. I only met one security member and he was a great guy and made my friend and I feel welcome! As for the non con people yeah they will judge but that is there ignorance let live and let die. The opening ceremony dragged on a bit too long too. The panels this year didn't seem to be all that interesting from the descriptions. Now you state that this is Family friendly con but there where many scantily clad men and woman and the H that the video seller had was a bit risque. I'm not really sure what the definition of a family friendly con exactly is. If its being so strict with some of the panels and such then I'm not sure if that's the way to go. The maid cafe could use some butlers or maybe even a REAL host club (would need lots of rules for that one). One last gripe was the price. It was really steep for me. I understand you need to generate revenue but maybe there is a better way to do it. All and all it was an amazing con and it was the best yet! Cant wait for next year. Hopefully I can even do my own panel then.

[Kokoro]

There was a room with activities specifically for children.

The whole "family friendly" thing is an issue with a lot of attractions/events. Ultimately, you can't shield your kids from EVERYTHING if you ever want to take them outside. You're going to see scantily clad people everywhere - the beach, the zoo... Heck, just walking down the street during the summer!

Take the Bristol Renaissance Faire for instance. They advertise the fair as family friendly, and they do have the Kid's Kingdom and tooons of kid friendly shows, rides, games, shops, etc. However, there is also a very adult side to the fair, coming from both scantily clad patrons (chainmail bikinis, anyone?) and the performers (they've got some raunchy humor!).

In short, I don't think AMKE can be held responsible for cosplayers whose "costumes" consisted of more boobage and butt than actual cloth. I do think there's a rule about just how much you can, y'know, show, before it's deemed innapropriate. Of course, technically you also have to deal with the issue of non-child friendly characters, like Pyramid Head, Pedo Bear, etc, that people may cosplay as. It's just not a solveable issue, really.

If the guy with the hentai had something over the covers (like they do at Suncoast) and an 18+ sign by the DVDs, it wouldn't be an issue. But I've heard a few people now bring him up, so I'm guessing he didn't?

[Linktube]

A big issue a lot of people had was the entrance fee. Way to high.

[AnimeGeek120]

Not to be rude or anything, but the fee really was not that much higher than last year.

Also, compared to a lot of other conventions I've been to, the price is pretty fair.

For example:
AnimeIowa: at door $60
Colossal Con: $45 at door
ACEN: $55 at door

Though I guess it was more expensive than the other Wisconsin cons, but still not by much as the others seemed to be in the $30-35 range.

So for Anime Milwaukee to be asking for $40, I felt that was completely reasonable. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a student discount mentioned on the reg forms(might have just been for UWM student's but still).

Sorry for ranting, just wanted to point it out.

[Dita]

I suggest having the Character Auction BEFORE the AMVs. Most of the people left when it started. I understand the 18+ bidding, so that's good. But maybe advertise it around the con a little? Who doesn't like to donate to charity? :]

I also suggest a ton more panels. I know that is not in your control. I found myself in my hotel room most of the con. There was just one big panel, and nothing else.

I do like that you had to show your ID. If everyone has them out like they should (in line) then it should go well. I like it because I have always thought about underage kids asking their 18+ plus friends for their badge to use, or if you find a badge on the ground and just use that.

For the location of AMKE, I didn't like how you had to walk alllll the way yonder to go to the main programming. There weren't a lot of rooms, or it just seemed too small, compared to last year (imo). But I also understand that the Hyatt may be the only place to have it.

And omg registration. I waited in line to pick up my badge (the pre registration line). My friend came around a few minutes later, said hello and she went to go register at the other line. *moments later* She was done, while I waited a while to get my badge. If that's the case, then I don't want to pre register next time D: Maybe have 3 or 4 people at registration?

But, thank you Anime Milwaukee for your hard work. I know (and hopefully others) know that you try your hardest to make the con pleasing to everyone.


Oh and I was badge #1! lol, I remembered I watched the site everyday to see when registration was up.

[urisco]

The entire convention was a lot of fun this was my 2nd year attending it.
For gripes though I do think that it was sort of annoying when all the cosplayers had to go on stage you could see them before they even got on stage. So it basically spoiled it for the audience since you could see all of us very easily and we were all sitting way to far from the stage a few people were complaining about how it was kinda hard to walk around so I imagine it was a bit difficult for them. A lot of people left before the winners were announced which was already mentioned a few times.

One thing I also did notice was that on Friday the staff seemed to not really be on top of things and very laid back, a few people were telling me that they got in free I'm not really sure what happened with that. And some people were walking around without badges on bragging about how they just walked in and no one asked for a badge. Then all of a sudden on Saturday it seemed the staff got a bit over zealous about everything and were being rude and somewhat power happy. I didn't experience it but I did witness it throughout the day some of it was mentioned here in the forums already.

Also the biggest gripe was the coat checking I didn't put my bad in coat checking because people told me that some of their stuff was stolen. A nice thing you guys could maybe do is have people who want to go into the video game room give their bags to the people in their and do the same thing with the tickets. At least we'll be by our bags then.
I did end up actually checking my coat into the coat checking and when I went to go get it the person at the desk asked me which coat was mine so i pointed at it and she gave it to me without even looking at the ticket or anything. I could have just pointed at anything and she may have given it to me.

I liked the idea of the maid cafe the only thing is that the tea they were serving tasted horrible =/ and a lot of people didn't even know there was a maid cafe. I would suggest serving better quality tea which isn't really that expensive and making the maid cafe more known to everyone.

overall though the convention was good and I'll be sure to attend again next year.

[burns_241]

EDIT: One other thing- I had a problem with the fact that the hentai vendor was the first vendor to the right of the door and he was able to peddle his wares uncovered. If it's a family-friendly con, he should really cover it up. I don't have a problem with the presence of such merchandise, as I'm all for buying whatever you please, but it shouldn't be out for children to see.

Sorry about that one. From what Katie, the one coordinating the vendor room, he didn't really tell us until he set everything up and we immediatley had him cover everything.

[NarumiKenshin]

I thought this convention was poor. I'll spare the "pros" as it'd be a stretch to say anything here was done better than at any other given con.

To begin, the hotel was an awful choice for a convention in terms of layout. Viewing rooms and the main lobby being on separate floors from the gaming room and vendor room made the con feel vacant. Elevators became precious commodities as very few attendees had the motivation to go up or down one flight of stairs. Those of us rooming a dozen floors up were often stuck watching elevators fill up to go down to the lobby from floor 2. Even worse, the rave and costume contest were in another BUILDING. For a con of this size to be successful it needs a more linear layout so attendees pass each other more often.

That is in contrast to the game room, which was miserably cramped, poorly ventilated, and pointlessly regulated. The coat check just wasted everyone's time. Many things were stolen from that room. The great irony is how weak the game room door security was. I didn't actually receive a pass until Saturday and just walked by security multiple times Friday night (I say receive and not pay because a certain female member of your staff helped me acquire a free badge with some coercion, you might want to look into that). Also closing the game room at like 1am for "inventory" was a huge disappointment as there is nothing else to do by that time. The machines were a nice touch but it seems tacky to ask attendees to pay money to use them. Budget the freeplay so more people can have fun. You could also perhaps budget some better prizes for the tournaments. Interest might not dip below "cancel it without telling anyone" levels (see: smash brothers melee).

The overall value of the con was very low, especially for a minor. I was amazed to hear minors could not bid on the character auction. Being of age to auction oneself off makes perfect sense from a liability (read: creepers) standpoint, but banning minors from giving money to charity to chill with a cool character is lame. Same goes for the rave. It was relatively dead at the beginning because the lights were on and the room was a building over and a floor up. But it dropped dead when you kicked everyone out and started carding people, which is sad because the music actually wasn't a bunch of anime theme songs and ballads like last year.

I'll give others some time to add or respond before saying anything else.

I can answer some of these concerns here:

With regards to the Hyatt being our function space last year, we went with a hotel that could support our size and have a decent layout. We did what we could with the resources, (and funds) we had available. The one thing we all agreed on that we were not happy about was the far off in the distance Main Programming. We did realize this to be a pain, and we are working on that for next year. We are looking at putting more in the FAC so that there is more programming there, and so that the rooms we choose are closer to the Hyatt so they are less of a walk. I'm not sure if you have been to other conventions or hotels in a Hyatt fashion, or in general but the Elevators do tend to be a hot item no matter where you go. you are going to have all types of cons that have programming on multiple floors, its really all about signage and having better markings of where each room is.

In regards to the Video Gaming room, again we are looking into a bigger space to alleviate the cramped space, and the poor ventilation. That we are working on. As for the pay to play machines, again, most places have that. While free would be nice, the Vendors who spend their time bringing these machines in need to see their reason for bringing them in. Most of the time we have companies supply arcade machines from their business where they are pay to play to have them here. There is no way we can allocate that kind of money into our budget, and most likely never will happen.

The coat check is something we are planning to do better this year as well. It was busy at times but it is a needed component. The reason for no bags in Video Gaming and Exhibit Hall is for that possibility for theft. While it does suck that it dampers on the majority of people who don't steal, we have to be cautious of those who may. For those who don't have a room, next year may be a good idea to plan to have a room in the Hyatt or put the items in your car. Please don't also accuse of many things being stolen from the coat check. There was one, and only one reported incident and I believe that was rectified by the end of con.

Minors bidding into an auction regardless of charity enters that minor into a contract, while there is no paperwork it is a verbal contract that is mandated my Federal law and we can be held accountable if the contract is cancelled, not held to standard, or there is a creeper out there. It is a safe guard on our end to keep people under 18 from bidding in the auction. They can still donate to the cause, but won't be able to bid. Maybe we can look into a multiple age event where there is one for Under 18 and one 18+.

The initial intent was not to have those lights on for the rave, and we will be discussing that option. Asking people to leave and come back and ID was a matter of the underage law. Something we are also looking into fixing for next year.

Hope these comments helped! feel free to PM me if anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns!

Thanks!