in response to that "what kills cons?" thread, which cons get it right? what do they do differently?
Before
>be /cgl/
>hate cosfamous with big Patreon accounts
>meet Jessica Nigri
>she's awesome
Now
>be me
>like cosfamous
Definitely gencon. I feel like the common complaints each anime con has fall on deaf ears but I keep seeing gencon grow and improve every year
Amecon had an awesome new feature this year- a schedule app that shows you all the events on every day, lets you favourite events to build your own schedule, sends you reminders when an event is starting and messages about things being cancelled or moved, and even has a map so you can see where everything is. Fantastic idea for cons with a more spread out venue, but I'd really like to see it at more panel-centric cons in general.
Dragoncon.
Really, any con that actually tries to do something different and entertain guests is better than "just another generic con" run by some socially inept super-nerd whose only reason for starting cons is to get their name recognized in the community. There are way too many cons out there that all offer the same thing, and are run by someone who has no idea what they're doing.
>>9154945
Sakuracon & Kumoricon both use Guidebook to have a schedule app, which I think is great. It really is useful for people to plan their day and mark down what their friends are attending - without having to cart around a paper schedule covered in highlighter that could be easily lost.
But it does cost the con a few thousand dollars to use, so I understand it not being a feasible option for small conventions.
Kami-con. Almost every year they have interactive events which I love. I wish more cons had interactive events.
>>9155289
Do you have a more specific example of what you mean by "interactive events" ?
>>9155217
This
>if only they would branch out to the coasts
Putting the schedules to a panel room outside the room.
It's small but it really helps in discovering panels and knowing what to look forward to.
>>9155243
I'm not a fan of schedule apps, to be honest. I worked help desk for Colossal this past year and we had a ton of people come up to us who didn't have smart phones, had smart phones too outdated to run the app (like mine), couldn't carry their phone due to cosplay, or weren't staying at the con hotel so they had a dead phone and couldn't charge it.
Schedule apps have their upsides but I don't think they're that much better than paper schedules.
>>9155217
Dragoncon is the only con that I've heard nothing but good things about over the years. What do they do that makes it so successful?
>>9155948
I meant in addition to paper schedules! They're both useful in different ways.
>>9155948
Colossal also has paper schedules and guide books. (not speaking to you, but just informing for the general populace that wasn't there) It'd be a clusterfuck if a convention solely relied on it. Hell, some conventions don't even have their schedule finalized and printed until halfway through Saturday, much less offer paper schedules.
Eventually apps like that will probably be the norm. But there's not an established baseline of the technology, OS's update more frequently than people typically keep a phone. Give it about 5-7 years and I'm sure most conventions will adapt to this and there will probably be something that's easier for everyone to use. 10-15 years from now, if anime conventions are still a thing we'll be educating newbies on how paper schedules were a thing, and people will be appalled at the environmental costs.
Really, there's no harm in experimenting with/implementing new technology as long as it's not your only form of getting your info out there.