[Orinocou]

For my part, I didn't like having to use three pieces of material (loose sheet with, small book, large book) to find one panel. It was not efficient to list the Panel locations as numbers in the loose sheet, then as something different in the books. If you could condense the large and small book into one book, regardless of the size, that would be great.

The large loose sheet with the calendar of panels was helpful because it was large, handy, and easy to read. Shrinking that down to fit into the pocket size book would have made it difficult to read. Please keep that loose sheet for next year, but please use a more consistent naming system for the locations of the panels.

If you have space in that large sheet, you may even try fitting a map into it.

All the same, it was a great con and nicely organized. Thanks for all the work y'all have put into it!

Orinocou

[ito]

I thought that panel organization was kind of bad, I had trouble finding my own panel in there even. I'd rather have them be sorted by time and not by topic because most of the time I was looking in there is was more of a "what do I want to do now" kind of thing.

[daegan]

I'll echo the comments about consistency in labeling and add that the panels should only be divided by day. Some game panels were in fan panels instead, etc and it made descriptions hard to find. I also think the pocket guide should be just that - a pocket guide. Save the big panel descriptions for the big, full-color guide and keep panel descriptions in the pocket guide to 2 sentences, 140 characters.

[KnitChick]

I've got some ideas myself but I'll comment on others' suggestions first.

GenkiGirl, on May 10 2009, 02:52 PM, said:

I was a bit disappointed that there were no autograph pages in either of the books this year. I think those should be put back in and kept.

Also with the maps, the panel rooms should be labeled. We had to walk around and ask IRT, and the guys I asked didn't know where any of the rooms were either and told us to just check random hallways.

I do agree that there needed to be better organization on that. I was a bit confused myself as to the panel rooms.

Kasin, on May 11 2009, 03:54 PM, said:

label all help desk as such. i did not know ballroom reg. was a info desk

Would it help if we put up a big "Customer Service" banner? That's all I can think of to further indicate that. I mean, they've been there for all three years I've been going to Acen, I figured it out pretty quickly my first year.

Alysia, on May 12 2009, 07:44 AM, said:

The problem with the photoshoot is that we really don't touch it at all, we just print what we're given as a courtesy, and unfortunately we can't really detail a staff member to coordinate it. What would need to happen is for the cosplayers interested in the photoshoots to come up with a standardized way of listing locations, and then we could have a legend explaining that.

I would be more than willing to work up a photoshoot map for you if you want, just let me know. Also, if you need last minute proofing, please give me a hollar. My friend (who worked special needs with me this year) and I both have copy-editing experience. 2 am Sunday morning copy-editing experience.

jenchan, on May 12 2009, 10:00 AM, said:

I think that one small to mid size(manga size) book would be fine.

I like that idea, a manga size would be really cool IMO!

daegan, on May 12 2009, 02:44 PM, said:

I'll echo the comments about consistency in labeling and add that the panels should only be divided by day. Some game panels were in fan panels instead, etc and it made descriptions hard to find. I also think the pocket guide should be just that - a pocket guide. Save the big panel descriptions for the big, full-color guide and keep panel descriptions in the pocket guide to 2 sentences, 140 characters.

Twitter descriptions huh? Interesting idea!


My main problem was the panel rooms. If you need to put "Pan1" "Pan2" etc. on the grid, then there should be some kind of key elsewhere. Reading what Alysia said, now I understand why. Hopefully for next year we can set schedules a bit farther in advance and have more time for proofing/editing/triple-checking. (if not, I gladly offer my copy-editing abilities!)

I thought the maps were quite good this year. Agreed, there could be a photoshoot map, I'm willing to work on that. I did try and direct those who asked me (I'm pretty familiar with all the locations but even I found myself racking my brain to remember where the tree patch was because I have had few shoots there).

The descriptions of the panels were not in a very logical order, in fact, it was downright confusing to find a panel description. Either an alphabetical or chronological order please! I do think there is some merit in the topical groupings but perhaps a separate listing? Like, "Educational Panels" and a list of titles/times and then if someone wants to read more, they can find it in the alphabetical listing.

I like the idea of, if it's one book, putting it in manga book size. Maybe even with some manga pages like Sa-chan suggested? That's a decent carrying around size.


That's about all I can think for now.

[Zrana]

Since I didn't make much use of these things, I wasn't terribly confused--I was busy hanging out and having fun with cosplay.

That said, I actually LIKED how the panel descriptions were divided up by types. It's not always easy to know which panels have guests and which don't by name alone. But from the other complaints, here's an idea--one alphabetized panel list with diescriptions, and then a the catagorized lists with just the panel title, maybe even a mention of what page the full description is on.

I was also lost on figuring out where the panels I DID go to were at. Thankfully all the "Panel #" rooms seem to be near enough to each other than I could get to the general area and snoop around. Both the things I went to were in the same room, so I had it easy. I'm TOTALLY HAPPY nothing was in the convention center.

I DO prefer the current method--it makes sense for printing timing and accuracy (I hate panel last minute flip flops), and I don't have to carry around the general info book that I don't even need and can keep with the pocket guide and gridded list (with addition of room names as given to them by the building of course).

As for cosplay gatherings: from the gathering thread, we've pretty much already given places set names, but I can understand how a map pointing them out would be helpful to others.

[Lord Warhammer]

well.. besides echoing everyone else saying everything should be condensed into one book , I would like to work on the book for the next year.

[Shinteetah]

Like many others, I had trouble collating and interpreting the information from three sources. Below are my Perfect Program Book contents:

• panel titles
  
• panelists/guests
  
• panel descriptions, including time/location
  
• panel locations (both Panel #3 and Room Name)
  
• schedule grid
  
• map

I know that's a lot, but it can be done. Panels should be listed alphabetically (by categories doesn't help if I can't interpret the topic from a title) with descriptions. If you want to get fancy with categories, etc., you can go wild on the website where space isn't at a premium. Then, make a mobile-friendly site for quick con reference!

There were several panels I saw before the con started which I never learned what they were about because I couldn't quickly locate the title in the program book. Also, we had a number of attendees tell us they were looking for our group name and/or our catchphrase title rather than the topic keyword which was in the grid, so a quick searchable listing would have been helpful there. I like the indexing idea.

Photoshoot schedules and locations would be great, too. I directed a number of cosplayers and interested photographers, but I didn't know everything!

Since we have the website (which I'd rather see integrated into www.acen.org, instead of standing alone), let's use it fully -- even before the schedule is finished, post approved panels, presenters, and descriptions, so attendees can get an overview. And then offer that as a mobile-friendly reference as well.

[MoonRosePetal]

I definitely agree with panel information. Please list the rooms with the Panel #s! Also, a manga-sized book sounds great. Can you include an index somewhere in the back to quickly find things? This would be very helpful when losing page numbers or needing to find information quickly. The maps this year were very easy to read, so maybe have similar ones next year?

[Alicorn]

I really liked having the map in the middle of the program book, so it was super easy to flip to. I don't remember if it's been like that in future years or not, but it's a great setup since I think the map tends to get checked pretty often. Easy for us at the info desk, anyway, since the "Where is X?" question gets asked a lot so we're always pointing things out on our copies of the program book map.

Matching up the room labels on the grid, map and panel descriptions definitely needs to be remembered, though! I went through all the display schedule grids on the info desk Friday morning and wrote the room names for each panel on top of "Panel 1, Panel 2 etc" but of course that just helped people who came to look at them on the table. That's the sort of thing dumping all the production media onto a third party to read over would be helped by, I think - they haven't been staring at everything for hours on end, so they have a fresh eye. More than one person has volunteered, so maybe Production can make a list of names of proofreading volunteer staffers, unless they already have people within the department who are supposed to do that (like I said...third party, fresh eye, it doesn't count if you give it to someone to proofread who's already seen it a million times! I can't claim 2am Sunday morning copy-editing experience like KnitChick &co, but I do have experience of my own so I would volunteer as well)

Good luck on the happy medium between "I need the schedule and map to be THIS big so I can actually read what I'm looking for and see where I'm going" and "I don't want to juggle panel descriptions, schedule grid and map while lugging around my purse, costume prop, and bag of dealer's room goodies" >.>

(Also, an "ANIME CENTRAL INFORMATION" banner to cover the "CONVENTION REGISTRATION" sign at the Hyatt customer service desk would indeed be nice...I'll bug Lando about that one, though, as he is in charge of asking for such things and anyway, that's not related to the program books X3)

The photoshoot locations are mostly standardized into a handful of preferred locations that nearly every group uses. Words are pages and pages are money, I know, but I wonder if, along with the fan-created list of photoshoots (that was super great to have in there, by the way, I always get "where is X photoshoot?" questions), there could be short descriptions of where each location is, or even marked on the main map. Cactusmomma's post in the cosplay gatherings section gives very useful info on each spot, I'm sure we could work out short blurbs to easily point out where they were (for instance, "Elevator area: enter Hyatt main entrance, straight back, behind elevators", "Garden area: outdoors, next to convention center restaurant 'Expoteria'")

[Zrana]

Alicorn, on May 15 2009, 12:22 AM, said:

The photoshoot locations are mostly standardized into a handful of preferred locations that nearly every group uses. Words are pages and pages are money, I know, but I wonder if, along with the fan-created list of photoshoots (that was super great to have in there, by the way, I always get "where is X photoshoot?" questions), there could be short descriptions of where each location is, or even marked on the main map. Cactusmomma's post in the cosplay gatherings section gives very useful info on each spot, I'm sure we could work out short blurbs to easily point out where they were (for instance, "Elevator area: enter Hyatt main entrance, straight back, behind elevators", "Garden area: outdoors, next to convention center restaurant 'Expoteria'")

Better yet, on the main map with everything else, a special marker indicating photo-gathering spots. P1, P2, P3, etc. Then on the gathering list, those can also be defined as Treepatch, Garden, etc, and for each gathering it can then use the P1 etc system to say where it is instead of the sometimes more ambiguous worded discription. Just a symple letter or star on a map could be helpful if a full numbered deal can't be done. Or a colored area much like how different types of areas are already indicated (panels vs video rooms vs dealer hall--each had it's own color.)

[Millions_Knives]

how are things going with this project
i know things dont go as planed
but a nudge may help to prevent the jam that occurred last year

[jenchan]

I do not want two program books. I would like one with comprehensive information and maps of not only event rooms, but of photo shoot locations as well.

[obakasan]

Don't think you can ever please everybody.

But I would have liked a panel list descriptions broken down into days, and then by time. Breaking them down into subject is nice too though, but maybe not with full descriptions. Perhaps a main listing of descriptions in alphabetacal order, and individual "breakdowns," one based on classification/subject, one by time etc, then people can use whichever list works best for them.

And really... for some things full-color printing is not necessary. I can see two books. The stuff subject to last-minute change (like panel locations) could be done last-minute in B&W in small booklet (stuff in pocket sized) form. A printed in advance color cover could be done for looks.

A 10-bin Duplo coallater/bookletmaker can churn out about 1800 booklets an hour using 8.5 x 11 sheets... I get 1600/hr when using 11 x 17... Would take a couple of days for 20K copies plus print time.

[Valentinez Alkalinella]

jenchan, on May 10 2009, 03:30 PM, said:

I didn't care much for them at all. Why do we need two books? I would like one book with all the complete information. There wasn't a map of the dealers room/exhibit hall ANYWHERE that I could find.

I would suggest a small, perhaps manga-sized book with all the maps, panel descriptions and the various information contained in the large and small program books combined.

I agree! I kept forgetting which book had what info - think that sounds like a great idea!

[Sir Gibby]

One book, ONE BOOK!

Last year...so...much...AGGRAVATION!!!!

[Berry]

Sir Gibby, on May 8 2010, 11:31 AM, said:

One book, ONE BOOK!

Last year...so...much...AGGRAVATION!!!!

You will be pleased to know that there is one book this year, and at the old school size from 2003 and 2004.

[Lina]

Berry, on May 13 2010, 12:46 AM, said:

You will be pleased to know that there is one book this year, and at the old school size from 2003 and 2004.

YES!!! I loved those books!!! =D