Convention organiser thread

Any news with PMX's fashion department splitting away from the convention? I was hoping they'd start their own event but it's been silent on their social media.

I've seen how a convention that grew from a few hundred back in 2003 into over 10k had its own little fiefdoms. Makes me think there is more to this so called non-profit organization with the many stories, epeen heads-backstabbing, as the con heads changed hands midway through that it was about money in the end. All I can say is this con despite it's teeny attendance sees itself as an animeexpo wanna be that it charges nearly the same. A few upstarts are developing at the moment and it certainly paints how controlling and greedy these guys are. But just like dragon cons past issues most don't care.

I'm a con runner for a smallish convention (about 9k attendance) and a staffer for larger conventions. I'm at about 30 cons a year for staff or advertising and I hear a LOT of stories at industry/green room parties. Some people in the industry lurk these boards because they're still fans at the end of the day, but not a lot of them. They generally do not care about what wild trash cgl is talking.

A lot of my stories are a little too revealing and I'm always paranoid people will find out I'm talking shit, so I'm keeping my cards to my chest. Sorry.

I run a con. I won't say which one or share stories as I know that some of my staff are on cgl. They'll know which con that I run from it.

I've met plenty of con runners who lurk on cgl. They know there's a lot of trash talking on here but in the end it doesn't matter because it doesn't hurt their bottom line which is making money.

>>9453151
Hi Mike

>>9452799
Anime North?

Fuck Vic Mignogna, every horror story you hear about him is true, he's self centered, abuses his fans and was damn rude to the Japanese guests we had. Thank god he's banned for life

>>9453197
Wrong. Try again.

>>9453260
If the other anon is talking about Anime North, I think they're at least good at keeping their internal staff drama under wraps. But that might just be a side effect of not communicating much at all.

I would love to hear some stories from the staffers of NemaCon, man that con was a shit show.

>>9453264
Vic is a mess. I've worked several cons with him but I've been lucky enough to not get trapped as his liaison. The first time I met him, it was jarring that not only does he have the voice of a little boy in a 40 year old man, but that he also has the single worst wardrobe I've ever seen.

I've worked with a lot of common con guests. Scott McNeil is pretty easy but the man loves to drink and one of my coworkers almost died trying to keep up with him.

Matt Mercer is a really cool dude. I haven't worked with him since his price point went up because of Overwatch but I'm sure he's still fine. I worked with him right as he was big for Attack on Titan and his free time was spent going around the con and interacting with fans and generally having fun.

Ian Sinclair is a pretty small name but he's VERY chill and cool. Favorite guest I've worked with so far.

The Steven Universe boy is a douche, but he's a teenager with money and popularity, so I'm hoping he grows out of his Beiber syndrome.

So far a lot of the guests I've worked with have been really nice. I don't have many drama stories. Even my Vic stories are more just... weird/funny and not really new info on him.

If I get one more of those "I'm xyz cosplay, please have me as your guest"-mails I'm gonna choke something.

Those requests of wannabe cosplayfamous people make me cringe every time. I hope this trend stops soon enough. Especially when those requests are extraordinarily rude, greedy or as ridiculous as that "I'm a unique supersize cosplayer, please have me as a guest" inquiry.

No one cares about your 50k bought and inflated facebook page likes, please stop. If you like to cosplay, that's cool. Feel free to buy your ticket or booth like everyone else.

>>9454030
I've been getting those kind of emails for 8 years. It will never stop.

>>9454030
I feel you, I've been a con organizer for years and we get mails from cosplayers asking to be invited as guests, all expenses paid of course including traveling and accommodation. Our convention doesn't do cosplay guests because they're a waste of money so we can just offer them a time slot for presentation or something and give a 1-day pass in return. Suddenly they go dead silent and don't get back to you. Fucking moochers.

I have some interesting stories about GoHs but I don't want to be doxxed and there's a certain gentleman's agreement regarding that stuff, but if you hear semi-credible rumors about GoHs they're probably true to some extent. Fame gets to peoples' heads really easily. Especially voice actors seem to be either cool as hell or completely insane.

>>9453264
I'm mad my state cons keep having him. I refused to work any con he was at. Pervert.

>>9453813
>but that he also has the single worst wardrobe I've ever seen.
WHAT?! He is the PEAK of fashion. The way his Affliction shirts cling to his slightly orange skin. The sparkling gleam of his embellished jeans. The TIGHTNESS of it all. Vic-kei is everything, you ignorant boob.

>>9454030
A new one we've been getting is "I'm a nerd rapper! Please pay for me to come!"

My favorite is when another con runner told me about one linking his HOT TRACK and it was called Anime Pussy. Zero self-awareness.

>>9454175
I went to my first convention in 2009 and I wasn't really aware of Vic because I didn't know people were into the VAs as minor celebs. So I see him walking the hallway with his staff member and I said far too loudly to my friend, "Holy shit, gemmed shirt AND a leather/denim pant?" and he whipped around and gave me a dirty look. Imagine my surprise when I found out he was a guest and was there professionally. Jeez.

Question for all you organisers: how exactly do you get guests for cons? I mean proper guests, like VAs and celebrities. Do you approach them and say "hey come to our con", and they tell you how much they want? Or do they approach you guys and say they're interested?

Entirely out of curiosity, I've always wondered about this.

>>9454123
We had him doing a signing when we were a bit smaller, but that tool used prepubescent/teen girls selling copies of him reading the Bible to the fans in line for a free signing

>>9455275
Depends on how you're connected to them. We are none profit so we try to avoid having to pay to much but our parent organization is connected to a bunch of universities and highschool's in Japan. We use that to ask for them and after you get a few big names you can use those contacts to meet other managers etc to ask. Buddies in a for profit con just have a manager who they hire to specializes in Japanese celebs and just pay the fees

>>9453264
He was a guest at a con that I staffed at last year, after several years of the con head refusing to have him. I think he was there for one year in the early 2010s and he was a nightmare? Head of guest relations took him thank god, noble sacrifice.

I work in GR at a few cons and most of the voice actors and music artists are really nice and down to earth people.

.... Also sometimes certain parts of Youmacon are a shit show because we can't reach each other's phones due to Canada fucking everyone's service. The heads of each department have head sets and radios, but for the rest of us it can be a struggle. Plz forgive.

>>9455275
For the one small con I worked really closely with, yeah that's about it. Their agent works with us and we pay. Guests cost a LOT of money. By the end of Sunday each handler has to make sure that their guest got paid before they leave.

>>9454275
You turned down Josip on Deck? He's fuckin awesome, I imagine he'd be a fun guest.

>>9455330
You gotta get more radios, like an actual professional setup. I'm security head for our dealers and coordinator for guest security and if I can't get to almost everyone in any room at any time including police we would fall apart.

>>9455355
I'm sorry, but no. I would pay him to delete his account, but that's about it.

>>9455275
Sometimes if its a name an organizer really wants, we contact their agent. Sometimes their agents come to us and pitch their guests to us.

Ballpark figures for you to consider: One of the bigger VAs we got from a western cartoon that's popular right now was several thousand dollars + travel, food, lodgings. They show up, get handed a large sum of money, do their weekend, and go home. It's wild how much someone in the industry can make as a guest.

I'm in a sad situation... I'm basically the only volunteer for a small con now. My friends that helped last year have all stepped back into minor roles and one of them may never talk to me again because of all the shit going on with the main organisation. I'd walk but... god. It's a long story that honestly keeps me up at night crying.

I didn't think that organising a fun nerd con could mess up my life this badly.

If you act like a massive retard at a con we quietly make fun of you behind closed doors.

>>9455572
Okay, mom.

I am so tired of people pitching themselves as guests without stating what they can offer or how they intend to earn their performance fee.

We're not going to give you money to stand around looking pretty.

Has anyone else had the misfortune of dealing with no name webcomic artists trying to be guests? No sweetie, your 500 reader count does not mean that you're the next Andrew Hussie. You can pay for a pass like everyone else and you're more than welcome to host a panel, but none of the free pass/board/food/travel/etc. that comes with being a guest.

>>9453264
So, the stories about him trying to bone underage fangirls are true?

>>9454275
>Anime Pussy
Was it Josip on Deck?

If you think all of us do this for free then you would be lying to yourself. Most cons who have at least 10,000 attendees, not including the owner of a for-profit con, have 1 - 10 full time employees working on the show. This includes non-profit cons. Any con who says they don't have employees are lying through the teeth. I've yet to meet org who brings in over 10k who didn't have some kind of paid staff.

For those who try to start a con thinking it'll make them hundreds of thousands of dollars should go walk into rush hour traffic. Those are the worst type.

>>9453813
At anime central last year, me and my cousin saw the Steven universe kid walking up to his room at 3 am with an old, sleazy looking hooker. It was so confusing. Why couldn't he find cure girl his own age, I'm sure half of tumblr would fuck him? Why was she wearing what looked like Borat's green swimsuit? Why was Steven enjoying himself so much? I tried not to think about it, went back to eating my watermelon and watching filthy Frank with my cousin as my friend lost his virginity up in our room. Thinking about it, that convention was better than I remember.

>>9458242
Why is this a shock, Anime Boston for example brings up their core team of 10 people who run the show (head lawyer, CEO, CFO, department heads, Japanese relations heads), at the end of the show, and I expect them to be paid, it's not like huge since I know most of them have day jobs but it's enough to keep the lights on.

>>9458242
It depends on the con and the volunteers.
Our convention runs on 9 main staff members with a big set of dedicated volunteers. And it is an intensive convention with over 130 events.
However, more than 15 to 20k really is the maximum of running it just on volunteers, as you cannot keep up with the amount of mail and events anymore.
however, I think that we can easily do a 25k+ event on just volunteers, provided we remove 70% of the events and just focus on cosplay, bands and dealerroom. The hard part will then be on how to keep all the volunteers, including ourselves, interested.

>>9459501
Orgs don't want this info disclosed as some volunteers think they deserve to get paid. I've seen orgs lie to their faces that no one gets paid.

>>9455330
we have a Slack chat for various dept and the entire con staff (although a groupme text group for your dept would be useful for at con so your phone dies less slowly)

Does any other con besides ACEN do comped hotel rooms?

>>9459396
Get a blog.

>>9458242
>>9459538
It depends on the con. Most of the big cons pay their core group, yes, but honestly, you'd be disgusted how much work/sweat/blood goes into cons for free because of tax reasons.

I remember there being a huge controversy with a west coast con (in AZ I think?) trying to work around their tax needs by having their staff pay a membership fee for the privilege of working for the con. IIRC it was their attempted work around for keeping free labor without having to change their business classification.

>>9460291
I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean for staff? Guests? What?

>>9460539
You're talking about Phoenix Comic Con. It blew up in their faces so they switched to paid staff.

not a con organiser but have worked alongside control at a few large events

radios are a must, especially for security and first aid
they are just so much better than any other form of comms if used properly
Hell, I would give every volunteer a set and some basic training on protocol

having a dedicated control cant be underestimated, someone who keeps track of locations, events and coordinates responses in real time
however it must be noted that control cant do anything else, they are required to be ready and thinking at all times really

even at small events (1k) you cant understand how much easier it makes life

>>9459501

Anime Boston is a registered nonprofit, so all their financial stuff is considered public including any salaries. AFAIK nobody is paid but anyone who's bored could request the 990s from the IRS pretty easily

>>9460541
Acen staff get free hotel rooms, granted that if you don't know anybody, you're stuck with strangers but the free hotel room is a major plus for grabbing new staff.

>>9460291
Of course. Depending on how much work one does, but if you do a few hundred hours of preparation, a free hotelroom is totally normal

>>9454030
It always ends up being someone who bought both their following online and their costumes. Gag me

>>9454080
Half-true. A convention can definitely make money off a cosplay guest, but they have to be legit worthwhile and not just anybody. A great guest coordinator/cosplay department staffer will be aware of who does and who does not bring in more attendees, etc

>>9455625

No convention is worth that kind of bullshit. Seriously. Get the fuck out.

>>9461687
I honestly wish I could but everything is pinned on me at the moment. I got so many people constantly coming to me with questions and I'm trying to prevent anyone attached from getting their reputations ruined. By the time all this hit the fan it was too late for me.

>>9453813
I'm sure it's not the only but 3 cons I go to, 2 run by the same group have had these guests in the last few years and from talking with staff and volunteers I'm not surprised by any of these stories coming from my local cons especially the person
almost dying trying to keep up with Scott.

>>9460291
Kami-con gives free hotel rooms to staff. We all know each other, so generally we room with friends.

>>9461007
Staff should always get free food/board for their work. That's a given. Volunteers less so since they only do short shifts. If they do above and beyond their designated shifts and are great workers, they'll more than likely get perks because of it.

>>9461810
Yeah it's certainly not the only instance of him drinking hard. He's kinda nuts but he's a nice guy. Gotta love Anime Ted Nugent.

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anyone have anything to say about any of the ATL cons?

Just curious

So I have a question for anyone who wants to comment anonymously as even when I staffed at conventions, people didn't like talking about this.

How big of a problem is sexual harassment for security teams?

I'm not talking about the white knight I think this guy is making girls uncomfortable and I feel I need to step in, rather I mean like blatant inappropriate touching/groping or people going to staff/security to get people to stop following them.

>>9462285
Honestly, not as bad as you'd expect. I work in a bar for my main job and have worked at clubs when I was in college. It's not nearly as bad as drunk frat boys out on a Saturday.

Property damage is the biggest issue with conventions. Our security/staff team have a higher demand on managing lines and keeping an eye out for destruction. We haven't run into a lot of sexual harassment aside from "hey this guy is kind of a creeper".

Take my experiences with a grain of salt, I've mainly worked smaller cons (6~10k attendance) but I do attend larger cons for fun/networking.

>>9453264
Is he really that bad? I haven't heard much about him from others, but I've gotten to talk with him personally on a few different occasions and he seems pretty okay.

>>9462459
Yeah, seems to me that you're more likely to get damage as well. Stupid kids are always climbing on shit, or each other and rolling around. I remember back when Death Note was popular there were lots of kids going around wearing handcuffs with long chains. People were getting tripped over, tangled up, and clotheslined. Dumbfuck kids didn't think for a moment about the risks.

>>9462285

Big problem. It doesn't help that people report it weeks after it occurred or the harasser can't be identified. If a large portion of the attendees are young, it can get pretty bad.

Keep records. It helps out a lot.

>>9462285
Really, not that much. But I guess it depends on the country and convention.
We keep a tight eye on it, and everybody wears badges with name or unique nickname.
Does something happen still? Of course, but it is usually more autistic stalking because the person really does not understand it, without anything touching.

The key is that the event staff needs to be approachable all year, so that people also approach the staff, volunteers and security easily. I think that with this approach, in the last 8 years I have had more girls asking what to do if ex is annoying than anything else.

What also helps is that in my country that the moment you do harass someone and it is known, your convention days are over. You will be socially excluded and get banned from every half decent con in the country.

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>>9454275
>Hates nerdcore
>Turned down Josip on Deck

What are peoples' feelings on agents that try to have a monopoly on the guest list and want to attend? In the past five years I've seen this more and more, it seems outright underhanded.

Yes, I want to pay for you to come as well to try and snipe my other guests for your business, totally! And if I don't, I can't get X, Y, or C? That sounds great!

>>9460291

Idk if they still do it but if two or more department managers room together AWA comps the room

>>9460291
Colossalcon has staff rooms which are usually village or combo suites (room with the kitchen) for department heads and a few of their people, and regular rooms for everyone else. Security got a villa one year (2 story individual building w/ like 5 bedrooms, washer+dryer, Jacuzzi, and porch), not sure if they still get one.

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>>9454175

>>9465069
Outright bullshit.

>>9465069
I tell those agents to get the fuck out of my life.

>>9455761
>not making fun of nerds in their faces
It's not like they will complain

I wonder if there is any staff here from Latin America. Most of our cons are small compared with more civilized countries but I want to hear stories.

>>9462856
How do the cons keep control of the ban? Do they ask your ID when buying the ticket?