[voni ^__^]

Acen Idol underwent a lot of changes from last year and has been getting mixed reviews about the new process. Feedback about this year’s event would be greatly appreciated (is mooching off of Jared’s Speed Dating idea)

There were some things that I did notice myself or at least has already been brought to my attention…

Auditions should be with video so we can judge their stage presence!
Voni thoughts: It’s a great idea but you really have to consider how much work it is going to be able to pull that off. Some people had enough trouble just trying to find a microphone. I think requiring video would be way too unreasonable only because many don’t have access to that type of equipment.

WE NEED SOUNDCHECKS!
Voni thoughts: I really want to apologize to everyone that didn’t get to sound check for the first round, I’ll make sure to fit one in next year because it did end up making quite a difference.

small group of people watching
Voni thoughts: mostly my mistake because i ended up asking for times BEFORE i found out about when the concerts were and by the time i realized, it seemed too much of a hassle to change so it was just left the same. We will work to have better times next year!

Posting Results as opposed to announcing them.
Voni thoughts: I had chosen to do announcing because the Performing 20 voted to do it that way. Next year I will post 2nd and 3rd Round results as opposed to announcing them.

Ballots did not turn out very appealing.
Voni thoughts: Make voting apart of the decision but not deciding factor.

Judge’s Panel was meh.
Voni thoughts: We will work to change that and make it more exciting, leaning towards getting people that helped judge

Rounds were too long.
Voni thoughts: I think I liked that we made the first round short with each song being about 2 minutes long, the second round seemed to drag performance wise for some people so I’d like to have people perform a shorter version of the song for 2nd round as well.

yicky name for panel!!
Voni thoughts: buuuut!!!! i think the name has grown on me but regardless, anyone have suggestions?

Some conflict on song languages.
Voni thoughts: At the very beginning of planning and making rules for this event I brought up the possibility of what people thought of people singing in English (because I’m terrible at singing in a foreign language even though I can speak two >.<) and the overwhelming feedback was that we should stick with East Asian languages to celebrate and embrace the fact that it is an Anime convention after all. So I still do stand by keeping it to all East Asian languages and allowing scattered English.

Final round was based on sex appeal.
Voni thoughts: Yes, yes it was. So I was thinking maybe the three finalists could sing out of cardboard boxes to shield off all of their sex appeal… okay I’ll be serious now. It’s really hard to avoid this and by the time we get to the final round, everyone is so damn good that we couldn’t really leave it up to the judges to make the decision. I’m definitely open to any suggestions on this.

Voni’s thoughts overall:
There were some people in Round 2 I had believed should have made it but didn’t, but overall I thought the people that made it into Round 3 definitely deserved to be there. If anyone had watched round 2 they would understand. Yes The Skuldness didn’t make it but it was ONLY because she forfeited for personal reasons. She talked to me so I’m considering forgiving her >.< but that is why we ended up with Desiree, Sean and Sam.
As for combining Acen Idol and karaoke, it’s a great idea but the time commitment seems a tad too much, I don’t know if I would be able to find judges willing to sit for so many people singing karaoke, however it will definitely be a possibility!

Sorry there is probably more but this is what I can think of for now.

Also i'd like to thank everyone for putting up with this event which could have been better planned on my part. Everyone that competed was absolutely fantastic! and those that were suppose to but didn't, i forgive you lol. Hopefully many of you will try again next year, i'd love to see you all perform on stage again! It was quite the pleasure

Voni ^__^

[DJFLuFFKiNS]

So does that mean I'm back as a judge?!

Also... we should take a vote.. Eric as MC or Eric as Judge?

[Sean Chen]

DJFLuFFKiNS, on May 27 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

So does that mean I'm back as a judge?!

Also... we should take a vote.. Eric as MC or Eric as Judge?

Eric as judge.

[Soy Sauce]

DJFLuFFKiNS, on May 27 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

So does that mean I'm back as a judge?!

Also... we should take a vote.. Eric as MC or Eric as Judge?

Judge...

He pounced on me when he was MCing... <.<;

[Animexcel]

How was the spot art? xD

[Illia Sadri]

Can I request regardless of how Eric is used in the future can someone get video footage? As his friends we all love having any opportunity to watch him make a fool of himself.

*side note: I say this in the most loving manner as we've been friends for 6 years or so and thus we rip on one another relentlessly.

[voni ^__^]

Illia Sadri: erm you see -__- i got the business card from the guy that was recording but i think i left it in my blue clipboard box because i can't find it at all >.< and so now i feel like an idiot T__T
i have this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WT0xm3S7Nzs
hopefully that will suffice for now?

[FlyingElf]

Thank you very much for the responses to a lot of the comments posted on the other thread.

Yes everyone is very good by the final round, but I still believe having experienced judges who are knowledgable in the area of vocals is better than having an audience whos going to vote for who they think is the prettiest. And honestly, its a judges job to make that tough decision. Like the masquerade, theres a lot of great costumes and skits, but its ultimately the judges job to choose who wins and who loses.

But thats just my opinion. Still overall I will say it was a lot of fun to watch the event this year, and I do believe you guys are doing a good job of running it. Its a lot of work and very difficult running an event of this magnitude.

[DJFLuFFKiNS]

Ya, I honestly feel we really stepped up the bar of idol competitions. I'm not sure how many other Idol competitions put this much effort into it. (I'd be happy if anyone could talk about other ones they've seen).

I think we are having a disconnect between judging from the audience and then judging based on judges. This is especially worse because it sounds like most people wanted more entertaining judges to begin with.

I'm guessing we're just going to have to bite the bullet on this one ^^

[kpopgrrl]

I'm sorry I missed watching. I should have come even though I didn't make it. But of course, I was working the game room and doing Karaoke (which I'm not sure how well it went, because the only feedback that I got on the thread was I couldn't find it, it started late, or there was no one there to run it. makes me feel sucky). I am going to audition for next year and now I have so much time to work on it. I really don't suck at singing, not even when singing in Asian languages, but I guess that recording and the song were bad. It was both my first time recording something (using Pro Tools and a sound booth, I'm sure you couldn't tell) and my first time singing a whole song in Japanese. I'd been taking it since the fall, but hadn't learned a whole song yet. I think I should just stick with Korean drama for the audition next time. The only problem with that is their opening versions are so short, usually only 30 seconds long.

[DJFLuFFKiNS]

Ya the variations on length kinda suck. I have a feeling the rule will remain 2minutes or below, and be an official arrangement or require prior approval from us.

I'm also leaning towards having it be themed... like Round 1, op/ed, Round 2, Rockish song, Round 3, Ballad... or something

[ai_no_kaku]

Over all... I thought ACen Idol was done pretty well. I'll agree though that the judges needed to have more of a musical back ground. There were several things that they missed that were pretty big. Might I recommend trying to find people with some experience in Musical Theatre. People with a background in musical theatre are extremely familiar with stage presence, vocal quality, and musical quality (if someone is sharp, flat, etc).
As for judging the final round... why not have a group of 5 or so judges score the each preformance, using several different catagories (stage presence, diction, pronunciation, ect), and the contestant with the highest accumulative score wins.

[Miri]

Late reply, sorry.

Welp, I liked how judging was done the first year. From what I remember they were more of a crowd pleaser. Either way,
don't let me be a judge again, I was horrible. XD

I sadly missed out on the last round, but like you said already Voni, I heard it ended up being about who was wearing sexier clothes. I can't really say for myself who I thought should have won since I didn't actually see it, but it was a shame to hear that's how it went down.

Personally, I liked having the entire competition in one day. It made the rest of the con easy since it was all done with. But if it works either way, then it works either way.

I hope this is still helpful for how late it is. ;p