[cactusmomma]

We had a loooot of people this year! Lots of people means lots of cosplay! What were your experiences with the gatherings? Meet new people? Would you like to see lists posted more prominently around the con or in the book somehow?

Did you all have fun?




On my side, I'd like to say I was very pleased to see all of the different cosplays around this year. The quality of many of them was amazing!

As for the gatherings schedule not being in the programming book, I was told that it was too big to put in there, so they were placing it in front of customer service (and I was made aware of this fact on Thursday night.) I know I will be working to get the places and times labelled more clearly for next year!

For now, I want to see your thoughts.

[Washu Takahashi]

I had a great time and lots of fun. I was disappointed that the gatherings weren't in the programming book though since I didn't have access to the internet (am I the only poor soul who doesnt have a smart phone yet?). Maybe they can find a way to reduce the size of the list and put it in next year? Maybe put in the shoots with the panels or something? Other than that, great ^^

[steamphunk]

Yeah, I agree with Washu Takahashi about adding the gatherings into the program book or a handout or something for next year. I only saw the listing for the gatherings once at the customer service and the next day, I didn't see it at all. (It was only a quick glance, though.) It was kind of horrible when I didn't know when and where to go this year. My cousin and I didn't find out until last minute where the Soul Eater gathering was and we couldn't make it there on time. D:

But other than that, I had a great time. I made some friends and I got the chance to hang out with some old ones (although, half of them were drinking most of the time and they only came for the rave).

[Vinja Ryou]

My only real concern was that the gatherings weren't in the book, but since you've already addressed that...it's kind of moot, lol. All in all though, I think they ran pretty smoothly! The only snag was the sudden downpour on Saturday, but that's just a little beyond anyone's control, XD

Washu, I don't have a smart phone either, lol. I printed the gatherings schedule out Wednesday night, though.

[Lina]

Definitely control the number of photoshoots there are. I hope there were staff checking to see which had a lot of people and which had either none or very few people because when I looked at the schedule it seemed like a lot of those hardly had any replies, if any, in their respective threads.

[cactusmomma]

I have tallies of most of the meetups.

[Lina]

Good to hear. I think if the photoshoots gets compacted it will be able to be put into the program book again.

[Cazenburg]

I wish the photoshoot schedule was at least printed out and set next to where you could pick up programming books. There's no way it would have been difficult to either print out a whole bunch there at the con, or have someone run to a Kinkos to have a whole stack printed out. Especially since it was more than a little ridiculous that the schedule was printed out the day of the shoots, rather than having Saturday printed out on Friday, etc. I remember the photoshoot schedule being printed as handouts one of the past years I went, so I know it wouldn't be an impossibility.

Also, it would have been nice if there had been preplanned places for outside photoshoots to move because of rain, especially considering rain had been predicted in the forecast this year. That was all horribly disorganized considering no one anywhere on staff knew where rained out shoots were supposed to/could move. For the FF shoot I went to, the lady in charge decided to choose a spot herself and hope word of mouth passed the change around. It worked out, thankfully, but it was a bit hectic.

[TaiyakiOni]

Had one group go over our time by like 10-15 minutes at 7pm, but other than that, we all had a great time at the Touhou shoots.

[OtakuAngelD]

If there is no way to put the shoots into the book, perhaps a viable solution is to post a list of the shoots for all three days in all the hotels in a main area, like the information area of the Hyatt and the front desks at the Doubletree, the Embasy and the Hilton. That way, we know what to prepare for that day as well as the next two, because all three days would be listed.

This suggestion is because a friend of mine went to the Hyatt looking for the schedule. She was told they didn't have it and that she had to go to the Hilton. So she went to the Hilton. Hilton didn't put theirs up until 1100 that day. The photoshoot she was looking for...started at 1100. She missed the first half of the shoot because the schedule wasn't posted early enough.

[ATICE]

To be honest, I had planned AT LEAST 12 photoshoots, mmkay... Only went to roughly... 4. Wanna know why? Not only were the locations not on the map in the program guide, but also the final schedule was not in the program guide. Also hearing last minute about how photoshoot times changed. NOT COOL! ABSOLUTELY NOT COOL! I was told at least a few days to a week before the convention, that the time for my photoshoot was FINAL... now I hear "oh it's changed" what the heck is that!? I mean seriously... SERIOUSLY? WOW!

The photoshoots that I did hear were still on time were a blast though... but I went to the Kingdom Hearts photoshoot for an example, and found the Bleach one still going on... at least it looked like Bleach. idk. but yea, can we have an IRT member or two who knows the map AND con schedule stand by the restaurant exit AND outside or have a desk in the main lobby of the hyatt on the first floor? Thanks!

This post has been edited by ATICE: 23 May 2011 - 11:13 PM

[Demon Slayer]

Pretty much what was said, have a print-out of the final photoshoot schedule either in the book, or as a flyer you can get as an add-in to the program, or as handouts somewhere, something like that.

This is just a little thing, but I went to the Friday Hetalia shoot (which was probably smaller than the one on Saturday) but 30 minutes was definitely not enough time. Even if it's a smaller gathering on Friday, it would have been nice to have it be 45 minutes to an hour just because it's a bigger fandom. I think it just grew in popularity during word of mouth, but I think shoots with bigger fandoms need longer shoot times even if they're on the "quieter" days of the con, like Friday or Sunday. Organizing shots, etc seemed to eat up a lot of time.

On that, maybe we could have a "spillover" area for some shoots? Not that the shoots would be in the same place, but maybe there could be a few designated areas that usually don't get that much traffic that could be used to move a photoshoot, if certain people want to continue them? I dunno where... Further along the loading docks by the East Outdoor Wall or parking garage, perhaps? Inside of the con center even if it's nice out? Just an idea, though I don't know how well it'd work.

[cactusmomma]

Cazen: The rain backups for outside was actually on the schedule that was supposed to go into the book. Everyone was to head to the lobby of the convention center. Generally, it isn't too bad for people on the forums since the 'Stuff to Know' topic is here with all that yummy knowledge.. but again, I do apologize for the lack of information in the book or in the hotel.

Taiyaki: Which shoot was that?

ATICE: To my knowledge, none of the photoshoots were supposed to change times. Which shoots were these and where did you hear that information from?

Demon: That is why I've been gathering numbers for each shoot for the last week. I'm trying to see what fandom trends are going up/down so we can plan better for next year.

Again, I am VERY sorry that the information wasn't readily available and I am collecting everyone's feedback to present to the rest of staff very soon.

[myrla]

Doctor Who photoshoot was the highlight of the con (aside from my panel). I wish I could have made it to more but it didn't seem like there were many that were able to follow the schedule we printed sooner.

something that can't be changed but it was such an irony to me.. It sucked running through the random rainstorm on Saturday , breaking my shoes no less haha... to find out that I was the only Parakiss person! (Thank you to whoever took my picture there, though, it meant so much to me because I love my Miwako)

Also, something that would eliminate a ton of confusion especially for first time congoers:

PUT THE PHOTOSHOOT LOCATIONS ON THE MAP ON THE WEBSITE THAT WE PRINTED OUT BEFOREHAND.

This post has been edited by myrla: 24 May 2011 - 11:42 AM

[Darksilverhawk]

Adding one more to the request to get the photoshoots in the program book. Since it seemed to be the main go-to resource this year, it surprised me that the photoshoots weren't included.

Also, not anything that could really be solved, but the rain caused some chaos. I was never really sure if a shoot was going to move or not, since while it might not have been raining at that very second, the ground might still have been very wet or it was looking dark and threatening to rain any moment.

[Mautty Koray]

Here's my miff with that. I was a first year ACen goer and the only word of the meetups I heard were people with signs walking around or yelling about them being when and where. The fact that the meetups not fitting in the program did not excuse the fact that they didn't even bother to put a "Oh hey, we put the meetup schedule at X Location for you guys." in the book itself to tell us where it was. :|

[Washu Takahashi]

Suggestion for making the photoshoot schedule fit.

Instead of organizing the list by time and location, how about by anime? (I know they aren't all anime, but you get the idea) Lots of time slots tend to be open on the current spread sheet, which uses up space. What if, instead, you listed the shoots (alphabetically is always preferred) then showed where their time and location was?

Not sure if that will work or if anyone understands what I'm trying to say...but yeah. just an idea I had.

[Trini]

Since people have already covered the shoot listing, I'd like to add that maps of the shoots would've been nice too. While it helped that the shoots were listed near customer service, I saw no maps besides where panels were. I have friends who don't visit the forums so they had no idea what the names of some of the locations were.

[touma_karamochi]

Our tokusatsu photoshoot went well, for all it was a small gathering(I know ours is a small fandom, and we were waiting for one particular cosplayer who was dressed as Ankh(my icon) who was running late from something else).

One gripe I had though was that we were scheduled on Sat afternoon before the One Piece shoot, and with the rain it was hard to determine whether to go inside or stay outside. Also, I know the One Piece group is a large gathering (since I love the anime), but no matter if we went inside or outside, they and the Black Butler group(from before) seemed to be all over and taking up all the space(as well as random cosplayers) so we couldn't get started with our photoshoot until about 15mins into our allotted time. Good thing ours is a small group so we were able to get ours done even though we had to go til 3:30 or so.

I would also ask for photoshoot maps too, since whenever I mentioned the location, no one seemed to have an idea where our shoot was, even though I tried describing it was outside the Hyatt dome.

[Reichan]

I went to the Tales of photo shoot and there were a bunch of ravers in the area where we were supposed to be taking picturesss. Once they finally left we got started late and we only had a half hour so everything felt super rushed! In the future if we are able to get an hour i think that would be muchhh better and way more relaxed.

[tfcreate]

I'd like to convey my most sincere thanks to those who took a few seconds to pose for a couple of photos. Without you there would be no me... (at ACEN.)
You all work very hard on your cosplays and deserve the accolades you receive and then some.
Thank you all and WELL DONE!
TFC
Cosplayphotocollective.com

[Ashikana]

I agree with a previous poster,(Washu) organizing by anime is a great idea, it could take less space and could be easier to read then by grid. kind of how the panels descriptions were listed.
We all appreciate how much work you put into scheduling all the shoots!
for example::

Doctor Who
Friday:: 7:30-8:00 p.m. Loading Docks Right
Saturday:: 2:30-3:00 p.m. Loading Docks Left

Fairy Tail
Friday:: 4:30-5:00 p.m. East Outdoor Wall
Saturday:: 11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. East Outdoor Wall

One Piece
Friday:: 6:30-7:00 p.m. East Outdoor Wall
Saturday:: 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. East Outdoor Wall

This post has been edited by Ashikana: 25 May 2011 - 10:24 PM

[PanzerKunst99]

I don't have any major gripes that haven't already been covered, but it was a little bit of a cluster trying to find where the Final Fantasy shoot had moved to. Is it possible in the future to have backup locations selected in case of bad weather? Or maybe a staff member posted at the old location to direct people to the new one? I ended up joining up with a few other FF cosplayers, and we were just standing around hoping to attract others for strength in numbers. Then someone finally told us where to go, and it was all good after that. Just very confusing at first. If there's rain or bad weather in the forecast, I think it would be a good idea to pick a spot as a backup, just in case.

[cactusmomma]

I've just passed the feedback to my ADH, who will be talking to our DH about all of this. There were rain backups in place, unfortunately, they were listed on the schedule that wasn't in the programming book. I know not everyone goes to the forums, but we are doing what we can to get this fixed for next year.

[ThatOneChick]

Good Evening, posters.

My name is Jessie. I am the ADH for the Costume Events department. I am reading this thread carefully and taking notes. This year, rather last minute, Gatherings were placed under my DH and mine's jurisdiction. Cactusmomma has done a really great job organizing gatherings, and we aren't even getting close to taking that away from her, but next year we'll be better prepared to see what it is that we need to do to help Gatherings move more smoothly. I'm not sure who was telling you guys about shoot and schedule changes, but this would be really important to know if any of you remember who it was. Sincerest apologies to those of you who were effected by this. We will do better to make sure less things are out of out hands next year.

[Lady Leopardess]

I lost my schedule that had the panels/photoshoots I wanted to go to listed on it on the first day. The double tree had blocked the ACEN website so I couldn't go on it to look at the schedule. The other problem besides it not being in the book was that the schedule for each day wasn't available until noon which made it more diffcult for me to try to replan the days.

[KnitChick]

High fives to cactusmomma and ThatOneChick for all your hard work!

The only photoshoot I really plan on and managed to get to was Doctor Who. Unfortunately for some reason people were giving out several different times for the Friday shoot. *I* told everyone 7:30, because that's what was on the gathering schedule. But apparently it started at 7 (not sure why) and I even heard someone say they were told 5:30. No idea where these other times came from.

The only other problem we had was that Doctor Who is getting far too popular and we were crowded in Loading Docks Left (we were supposed to be Right, but somehow we migrated to what I think was Left...I'm never sure of where the dividing line was). Well that and a bit of confusion over who was running it but that I'll be addressing in a PM later


I do agree a map of the photoshoot locations, possibly posted at Customer Service with the schedule, would be a help. Ever since my first Acen it seems like I'm one of the few people who knows where all these locations are and can direct people properly.


Anyway, keep up the great work!

[ATICE]

I DO think there was a lot of work involved... but 274... photoshoots? >.> ... <.< ... when? lol.

I think that no matter what the page limit is for the programming book, photoshoots should still be in there, and I'm avoiding what people say about last minute changes next time.. That was kinda bogus. I think it was actually people in my group that told me they had gone to an info. booth and the booth had informed them of the time change which really made me frustrated because I saw people the day before and told them one time when it got changed to another... yea...

[Ranko]

I had a good time overall... but as I said in another thread... the people at the con this year seriously made me not want to cosplay anymore...

[Kasumisty]

I agree it would be helpful to have them either listed in the program book or have a separate sheet you could pick up at info/customer service that had all the photoshoot info in it.
I did look at the schedule online before I left for the con, but my printer is broken so I wasn't able to print one off. I was able to access the internet on my Kindle at the con (luckily it has 3G, since wifi is not available at con!) so I went to the forums to get the schedule during the con, but my Kindle was unable to open the JPG file that the schedule and photoshoot map were posted as in the forums so I couldn't view it. I was able to get the shoot times by looking for each gathering's thread in the gathering forum but I was not really sure where the locations were since I could not view a map.