[Molly Mae]

sisterdiscord, on 25 May 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

Normally I'm not a gripey kind of girl, but I need you guys to check me on this. What's the deal with throwing things off the balconies? Why is it funny? How do I stop it?

Here's the deal. Someone on the "Fishbowl" side of the Hyatt threw a big glass vodka bottle off the balconies Saturday night. It hit the dome and broke out a small piece of glass. Know how much that costs, guys? It's five figures. So I'm sitting here looking at this wondering

a ) How much good stuff I could do with that money that would be awesome for attendees
b ) How I keep it from happening again
c ) Why can't we have nice things?

I recognize that it's a tiny minority of attendees who do this crap, and I'm not trying to come down on all of you. I'm also not trying to spoil your ability to have room parties - it's part of the con experience, but how do I keep this kind of damage from happening?

You're not allowed to use the PM system.

:/

Someone (admin/DH of IRT) PM me.

[Pashy-chan]

P-Bear, on 26 May 2011 - 01:53 PM, said:

By this point, most of the posts seem to be repeating the same old sentiments, e.g. "make this a dry con," "get rid of the raves-- they have nothing to do with anime," "don't get rid of the raves, the draw in more people (and therefore more money) to the con," and other similar ideas about drastically changing the types of events offered and/or location of the convention.

sadly, the most accurate opinions posted in this thread are also the bleakest: that you can't fix stupid, and that no matter what the con organizers and IRT do, booze will get into the con (not to say that booze consumption is the root of all evil-- people consume it differently and with varying levels of responsibility). you can't please all of the otaku all of the time, and eliminating/not eliminating booze/certain events is going to leave a large portion of congoers dissatisfied.

what needs to be done, IMO, is to have an increase in the amount of security people watching the con, and a change in their operations/procedures. this is not to say that IRT is doing a poor job or acting inappropriately; i have heard TONS of accounts of IRT being great and helpful and accommodating, and i have also heard a handful of less-than-pleasant stories. furthermore, i will admit that i have no idea how the IRT are recruited, trained, or organized. i realize that there may not be enough money to bring more people on and, additionally, there may be no way for the con admins to control how IRT acts-- IRT people are only human, after all. what is possible, however, is to crack down on how different areas of the con are policed, and how misbehavior is punished. perhaps working closely with the rosemont police/hotel security will give IRT more authority and allow them to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers. as mentioned above, offering a finite amount of entrance tickets may reduce line congestion and allow IRT to focus their energy elsewhere. similarly, something as simple as roping off line areas may also cut down some of the craziness and all-over-the-place-ness of the lines. having an IRT team for each of the nearby, super-congested hotels might also help to control the madness in common areas outside of the main convention center area.

again, i know that money and bodies are limited and that all of these suggestions might have already been taken into consideration by IRT. as someone (maybe rondo?) said above, the onus is on each of us to help keep things in line. it's as simple as that. in a sense, everybody needs to be on IRT and work diligently to report crappy behavior. if all of us keep the hotel areas under control, then IRT will be free to monitor the panel/programming areas.

This. This. This, this , this. It was one of the initial points I had that got lost in the divergence from the topic.. @_@ I can't help but to agree 150%. I also wish that IRT could have greater funding.. I know, I know, this is a volunteer-based convention, but I do feel like that with a greater incentive, more congoers would be willing to devote their time and join IRT. And like you stated, we should all be apart of IRT.. No matter what, whether you blame it on the booze or the events, the heart of the problem is sheer stupidity.. While people can argue that since the dawn of the dances or certain events, dilenquency has risen.. so has the number of attendees, and that's something that's bound to happen as the fandom in general booms.. Since my first ACen just 6 years ago, the attendance has more than doubled, so naturally, this is no surprise.. and the boom in attendance this year alone has caused trouble throughout the entire con, so it was easy to guess that ill-moral behavior would be a greater issue as well.. I say we devote funding to IRT, up the incentive to join, and just like P-bear says, take the initiative ourselves to report any incident we see... And getting the police more-so involved in well should help a good ten-fold.. @___@ (I can't tell you how frustrating it is to report a problem to IRT, only to be told to take it up to the RPD on my own.. a previous year's experience..)

[JediNight]

Audri, on 26 May 2011 - 02:00 PM, said:

Your assuming people care...

And if people don't care, it's because they don't care about what the core convention offers -- they just want to party. We don't need them.

I've seen the sentiment stated a lot that we need to grow the con larger for better guests, a lot of people like the dances, etc. Acen is non-profit -- why do we need to keep growing the convention? Why are we concerned about increasing attendance? We've had plenty of awesome guests in the past, even when we only had a few thousand people attending. (We had Kenichi Sonoda and Ken Akamatsu here like 8-9 years ago. We had like 4-5 staff from Read or Die when that was first coming out, etc.)

We should be concerned about putting on a convention that runs smoothly and is enjoyable to attendees. Increasingly it seems this is not the first concern. Run a good con and attendance will increase all on its own. Anime Expo gets a lot of major acts and has huge lines which mean you only get to choose a handful of events to attend. But a lot of people still attend and have a great time? And you know why? Just because they get to go there with friends or meet up with people of like interests and hang out for a weekend.

I think we need to re-focus on shoring up the basics of the convention. The rapid growth is straining a lot of areas at the seams where organizational issues are being ignored and it's really going to kick us in the pants.

Next year is Acen15 -- a supposed retrospective year on Acen to date. I can't think of a better year to go back to the basics and just provide a great location and atmosphere to meet up with friends and make new ones for things you really like.

I really want to see Acen succeed in the future, but I'm beginning to rant so I better stop =X

This post has been edited by JediNight: 26 May 2011 - 02:33 PM

[Audri]

I want to say I totally agree with the above post!!

This post has been edited by Audri: 26 May 2011 - 02:28 PM

[The Fujoshi]

Washu Takahashi, on 26 May 2011 - 01:06 PM, said:

YOINK KOLKOLKOL

I agree with this than the 5-15 dollar price tag. If you factor in the hotel and other cost it's an issue for the people who are mature enough to go into the rave and thus more complaints or less attendance. I am a kind of person that likes equal balance without stupidity.

I agree and think you should pre advance for the soap bubble, if you are drunk or smell like weed smoke you can't go in obviously enough and there should be security inside the soap bubble as well. The problem is that there isn't enough good man power to cover everything. I heard someone threw a fire fire extinguisher threw a window with IRT there in the soap bubble line. Now he was obviously high and or drunk and he should have been arrested. Maybe the IRT knew him or was drunk? I have no idea but you shouldn't take out the soap bubble just because of some bad apples.

It's like saying 'well lets take out your panel that you like just because nobody goes to it but you because they feel in their eyes that it's a lame fandom anyway.'

Also where is security from the hotels when this stuff happens? I see more IRT than these guys at the Hyatt

[Washu Takahashi]

The Fujoshi, on 26 May 2011 - 02:43 PM, said:

I agree with this than the 5-15 dollar price tag. If you factor in the hotel and other cost it's an issue for the people who are mature enough to go into the rave and thus more complaints or less attendance. I am a kind of person that likes equal balance without stupidity.

Thank you! I was thinking the same thing when I suggested that alternative. I've only attended the soup bubble once, last year, and it was fun. I didn't bother this year because of the line. But tack on another 5-15 to attend? The way I see it, if you're only there for the rave, you'll willingly pay. If you're an average congoer who thinks they might have fun at the rave, you're not going to attend cause there are other/better things to spend your money on.

I hate the idea of penalizing the masses thanks to the few. A 55 dollar ticket already seems pretty ridiculous to me (thankfully got mine for 35 at a roadshow) but if you raise it more or start charging congoers to get in specific events, you'll only drive away the people that want to go to the con for a good time, not the ones who come to ruin it. They'll be there one way or another, so don't drive out the people that aren't there to cause problems.

[kitsune red]

We members of the staff who return year after year and work many long hours before, during, and after the con to bring ACen into being care. We also hope that our affords are not all wasted and for naught. We put up with hours of meeting throughout the year discussing, auguring, and damn near fighting about the best way to cover our various departments goals and objectives so that you the attendees can have a good time, not a drunken brawl or do as much damage to the Hotel, Convention Center and anything else because you are bored and have nothing to do.
If you are bored grow up and find some purpose and meaning to your life. Go to any of the recent storm damaged sites and do not gawk or stare. Pitch in and help someone searching for the dead or injured and giving out food or supplies. Or is the fact that nature can do for more damage than you can ever hope to do offsetting and spoils your fun. Makes you look like a piker, small change, nothing. Well that is what you are! If your idea of fun is to smash & destroy don't come back to ACen. We don't want you! You are not the reason we work and try to make ACen a success.

[Roark]

Please remember that the incident in question occurred on the other side of the hotel from the Soap Bubble.

On a much higher floor.

In a private room. That we can't enter.

People at a dance (or in line for one) are in a rather confined area that's easy (well, easier) to monitor.

So, kindly stop blaming the dances as the only source for ACen mischief.

That said, what can be done to channel mischief elsewhere? People are going to drink. We know this. Would a designated room block for parties (and strict shutdowns of other parties) help?

What other large, late-night programming events can we funnel people into?

What else can we provide that's fun, exciting, or awesome to keep people entertained?

Blaming the dance or talking about becoming a "dry con" or charging a cover for the dance and forcing more people into the halls won't help. That's just playing the blame game. Sisterdiscord is honestly looking for ideas here. What is it going to take to reduce (not eliminate) the destruction?

[evaunit01berserk]

Well roark bad news for you, being that this con is portrayed as a "party" con, you are going to attract more idiots then the usual con. No amount of ideas is going to fix unless you fix the mentality of the attendees. Its also going to get a lot worse the bigger the con gets as long as you portray that image.

Edit: I'm not saying get rid if soap bubble
Edit 2: I also may have a way that will cost a lot less then 5 figures. An idea my boss at my monitoring station just suggested

This post has been edited by evaunit01berserk: 26 May 2011 - 04:35 PM

[Kasin]

Why would any one do that? clearly it wouldn't end well with glass and glass.

acen is a party con? i thought reactor (r.i.p.) was a party con.

[Dark Spellmaster]

Could there be a way to police the rooms? Like if IRT or anyone knows that there is going to be parties in such and such rooms, is there a way to keep IRT or others around that area? Are there ways to tone down the party image? Or more so, maybe have each guest sign some sort of agreement to allow room checks at certain times if there's going to be a party or the guests appeart to be un ruley?

I don't think the soap bubble is the issue, I think the issue is keeping the riff raff out is. One way I would think would be to have some sort of honor system? Like you break it you buy it?

[Kasin]

when did every one start blaming it all on the raves and parties.

it's possible some one got drunk with friends in their room, or alone, and chucked it do to a bad time or etc.

eh, i just hope they do a party floor next year.

[SpicyNinjaCat]

Christy, on 26 May 2011 - 08:25 AM, said:

I suspect that's probably why the con suite went the way of the Dodo - I'd poked my head in there towards the end of con once while they still had it and it was disgusting. The whole place was trashed - like sombody decided to have the world's biggest food fight and follow it up with a rave just to grind everything into the carpet.

Ugh. Not only that but there was ramen noodles dumped in our hallway and it reeked both chicken broth + confunk the whole floor. Our room was a few doors down and at times it wasn't pleasant.

Yeah I'd have to agree that party rooms should be on the lower levels though. There's more control, more access for staff/IRT/police/ERT in case anything happens. Those balconies always seem to cause trouble.

Anyone remember the shopping cart incident?

[Kaay-chan]

Here's the thing: charging for the raves isn't going to do anything. If someone is willing to spend 35-50 on a convention just to go to the raves, they'll be willing to pay more. Not to mention the fact that it would mean more room parties, and a good chance that the damage will spread outside of the rooms and to other parts of the hotels. The room parties are just as much to blame as the raves are.

Also, I know someone suggested making the raves earlier. That would not work. At all. Masquerade is at that time on Saturday, and in the same space as where Soap Bubble is held.

I think there definitely needs to be a party floor/ tower. That way, IRT can monitor that specific area and if they notice a particular room getting out of hand, they can handle it as is necessary. Also, make sure to keep those parties confined to just the rooms in the towers and not the ones that are right by the balconies in the hotel. I know "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't completely work in these kinds of situations, but I definitely think that there would be less of a chance of things falling off the balconies if they aren't right there.

I know this would probably be expensive and I'm not sure how practical it might be (and it would require enough manpower to card people), but in a perfect world where cost/ space/ manpower wasn't an issue, I'd say have two raves at once. One for people who are underage, and another for people who are 21 and up. At the very least, it would make monitoring for underage drinking easier, and might even prevent other issues from happening.

[evaunit01berserk]

Kasin, on 26 May 2011 - 04:44 PM, said:

Why would any one do that? clearly it wouldn't end well with glass and glass.

acen is a party con? i thought reactor (r.i.p.) was a party con.

That's what it being called in the grapevine

[evaunit01berserk]

If you want a party tower, you better be prepared to have massive damages incurred to that tower

[Yukinari]

Kasemei, on 26 May 2011 - 01:55 PM, said:

I think something that has been emphasized a lot has been the 10,000 price tag. While people may not think that is a lot of dollar damage to a convention as big as ACen, the reality is that it is indeed a lot. 10,000 is also the lowest price tag in the 5 figure range. For all we know, the damage could be 15,000, 20,000, 50,000, etc.

dood you'd be surprised how close you probably are with your mid and highest number. you can certainly buy a brand new 2011 car with it.

This post has been edited by Yukinari: 26 May 2011 - 06:48 PM

[Scott]

sisterdiscord, on 25 May 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

Here's the deal. Someone on the "Fishbowl" side of the Hyatt threw a big glass vodka bottle off the balconies Saturday night. It hit the dome and broke out a small piece of glass. Know how much that costs, guys? It's five figures. So I'm sitting here looking at this wondering

Ugh... Trying to look on the bright side, thankfully something didn't go through the dome glass and into a crowd of people.

sisterdiscord, on 25 May 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

a ) How much good stuff I could do with that money that would be awesome for attendees
b ) How I keep it from happening again
c ) Why can't we have nice things?

I recognize that it's a tiny minority of attendees who do this crap, and I'm not trying to come down on all of you. I'm also not trying to spoil your ability to have room parties - it's part of the con experience, but how do I keep this kind of damage from happening?

Who knows, it somehow might have been an accident? Although it is unlikely due to it being a alcohol bottle...

Those balconies sound like hot-spots of trouble. I've never hand a room with one, so I'm curious how they are setup? Maybe it's possible to lock them? That would at least prevent dangerous incidents like that from happening.

As someone else was saying, putting a message in the program book about money that could have been spent isn't a bad idea. However, I suspect people who would do something like that don't really care that much about anime and are just interested in the convention sub-culture of partying. The more avenues the better, so having a message costs nothing but a page or small section in the book. To really get peoples' attention having the message on the front or back cover would be better. Taking it one step further, have a complete list of damage from the previous year on a page in the program book. That way people can really see the numbers and relate it to lost opportunities.

Here is another idea. A night watch group that visits every single room registered in the convention blocks to check up on the people. In that case it might be a good idea to have a police officer tagging along because you never know what might be found. I realize that is extreme but keeping stuff like that from ever happening again is a tall order.

This post has been edited by Scott: 26 May 2011 - 07:56 PM

[tfcreate]

sisterdiscord, on 25 May 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

Normally I'm not a gripey kind of girl, but I need you guys to check me on this. What's the deal with throwing things off the balconies? Why is it funny? How do I stop it?

Here's the deal. Someone on the "Fishbowl" side of the Hyatt threw a big glass vodka bottle off the balconies Saturday night. It hit the dome and broke out a small piece of glass. Know how much that costs, guys? It's five figures. So I'm sitting here looking at this wondering

a ) How much good stuff I could do with that money that would be awesome for attendees
b ) How I keep it from happening again
c ) Why can't we have nice things?


I recognize that it's a tiny minority of attendees who do this crap, and I'm not trying to come down on all of you. I'm also not trying to spoil your ability to have room parties - it's part of the con experience, but how do I keep this kind of damage from happening?

This can be stopped in 30 seconds, but the Hayatt will have to do it. Secure/lock the doors to the balcony.

1.It's common knowledge a lot of con goer/troublemakers like to go out there to drink, smoke and blow their weed. That has to stop. If they can't get out there, then they can't use the balconies to cause problems and threaten everyone's safety.

2. Invite the Rosemont DP or Cook county to run their drug dogs through the place from time to time during the con. It's a safety issue, so they'll likely do it at least once. And if they make even one hit, it's worth their time.

3. MAKE ALL HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES PUBLIC. The attendees have every right to know whats going on and what has been going on around them.

These will seem a bit draconian, but the soft, cuddly approach seems to bring out the stupid in everyone and embolden those determined to screw everyone out of a good time.
After seeing the anon bunch hanging out under the elevators with camera phones trying to take pictures up girls skirts as they rode the elevators, it seems that no one was controlling the important things.

[Valkyrie]

tfcreate, on 26 May 2011 - 07:08 PM, said:

2. Invite the Rosemont DP or Cook county to run their drug dogs through the place from time to time during the con. It's a safety issue, so they'll likely do it at least once. And if they make even one hit, it's worth their time.

A part of me actually can appreciate this idea. My high school once was the site for the local K-9 unit's "training" (as they called it). But, I don't know if Rosemont PD has a K-9 unit...or what kind of effect the dogs may have on congoers, for that matter. We've had service dogs at the con in the past, and those are simple enough. But K-9 units...that is a bold and interesting idea. I'm just not sure how feasible it would be.

[opimus.rm]

Valkyrie, on 26 May 2011 - 07:18 PM, said:

A part of me actually can appreciate this idea. My high school once was the site for the local K-9 unit's "training" (as they called it). But, I don't know if Rosemont PD has a K-9 unit...or what kind of effect the dogs may have on congoers, for that matter. We've had service dogs at the con in the past, and those are simple enough. But K-9 units...that is a bold and interesting idea. I'm just not sure how feasible it would be.

Alot of people will see dogs as violation of privacy. This sounds a little murkey legal wise. Keeping the doors locked might be against the fire code.

This post has been edited by opimus.rm: 26 May 2011 - 07:26 PM

[JennifurAB]

Bella, on 25 May 2011 - 10:00 PM, said:

I was on that side of the hotel. Sat. morning, there was a pillow down there, vodka bottles, a pack of cigs, and a HEAD OF LETTUCE.

Like, what the hell? Lettuce? Apparently there were carrots in the stair well too.. -.-

And my friends told me some idiot JUMPED OFF the balcony and onto the dome..? wtf? :/

I saw those same carrots in the street the next day ._.

[tfcreate]

opimus.rm, on 26 May 2011 - 07:24 PM, said:

Alot of people will see dogs as violation of privacy. This sounds a little murkey legal wise. Keeping the doors locked might be against the fire code.

They consent to search when they buy their badges. And it's the hotel's property. If they want to heard cattle through the place they can.... provided that they tell you so as a condition of checking in. But no one ever reads their contracts and terms of conditions.

Fire code will not allow ground level interior doors to the outside be locked (i.e. main entrance, side entrance). Upper floor balcony doors and windows can be locked if the hotel decides to do so.

This post has been edited by tfcreate: 26 May 2011 - 07:57 PM

[SpicyNinjaCat]

opimus.rm, on 26 May 2011 - 07:24 PM, said:

Alot of people will see dogs as violation of privacy. This sounds a little murkey legal wise. Keeping the doors locked might be against the fire code.

Allergies. I have them bad for dogs. Even if they after they left, my body can react to their dander many hours after their presence.

[tfcreate]

Valkyrie, on 26 May 2011 - 07:18 PM, said:

A part of me actually can appreciate this idea. My high school once was the site for the local K-9 unit's "training" (as they called it). But, I don't know if Rosemont PD has a K-9 unit...or what kind of effect the dogs may have on congoers, for that matter. We've had service dogs at the con in the past, and those are simple enough. But K-9 units...that is a bold and interesting idea. I'm just not sure how feasible it would be.

It's one of the options available. PDs have them, so it's likely they will be willing to "train" during the con. Even neighboring municipalities would likely enjoy the opportunity to "train" at a major hotel. I would still broach the idea. If the hotel sees it as heading off massive costs, they may even foot the bill for it. And if the con's insurer sees that something proactive is being done they may cut them some slack with their rate.

[msd121]

you know, when we had dances back in high school, there were cops in the dance hall, and those dances were far smaller than the ones at ACEN... so why don't we do the same thing?

Now, getting away from the dance/rave issue... I want to propose a few things.

1.

What would have happened if the perpetrator had left his room and thrown that bottle down into the courtyard (i.e. towards the benches and the elevators)? That bottle hit with enough force to damage a window that was built to withstand hailstorms. It would probably have exploded like a fragmentation grenade, and sent several people to the hospital. To my recollection, glass does not show up very well in x-rays, so it can take a fair bit of skill on the doctor's part to identify and remove all of the shards.

2.

I'm not fully aware of what has happened in previous years, but I think it's probably safe to say that the problems have probably gotten worse from year to year. Maybe not a whole lot worse, but by a noticeable degree. Now given that trend, it is extremely likely that at some point in the future, maybe next year, maybe five years from now, or maybe even seven or ten, someone is going to decide, in a fit of alcohol- or drug- induced stupidity, that they can fly. When they attempt to prove this, they will fail, and this failure, along with the names "Midwest Animation Promotion Society" and "Anime Central," will be all over the news the following day.
Result: parents wouldn't let their kids go to anime conventions; ACEN would lose the Hyatt, and probably die because other potential hosts would see it as a giant liability. Violent guests and severe injuries are not good press for a convention center.

Now, I don't mean to be a party-pooper or a pessimist, but I am very serious about this post. If nothing is done, these things will happen. I would put a significant amount of money on it - and I don't like to gamble. What I'm asking you to do is to forget about the 5-figure cost of replacing the window, and instead consider how you would feel, if, say, a 2.5 pound vodka bottle moving at 60+ miles per hour were to strike your fiance in the head while they were standing right next to you. Think about it seriously. Think about looking him or her in the face as their head exploded into a mess of blood and glass. That is what this is about, because it could very easily have happened, and it will happen if things go unchecked.

That is why all options - be they raising badge prices, charging for dance tickets, cancelling the rave, or even making it a dry con, should be considered seriously - because no matter how unpleasant the solution may be, it is much better than the alternative.

[tfcreate]

SpicyNinjaCat, on 26 May 2011 - 08:00 PM, said:

Allergies. I have them bad for dogs. Even if they after they left, my body can react to their dander many hours after their presence.

I know that there will be 2.5 million excuses why this shouldn't be done, but remember,
your fellow con goers are doing this to you. Not the dogs. If they'd behave, this wouldn't even be a discussion.
And as mentioned, there were service dogs at the site before. The dogs will be walking through the site, not renting the bed next to you.

And there's always the Embassy Suites.

[JennifurAB]

Honestly, ACEN was created to attract crowds of otakus and the likes, not partiers. While it has already been said, I do agree with the fact that not all of the ravers ar eterrible people; there are just a few rotten apples. However, I also agree with the fact that a rave isn't exactly the most on-topic for an anime con. Perhaps if they played strictly japanese music or anime/game themes? Although, that would certianly limit the possibilities of the DJs.

As far as I know, ACEN is ment to be a family con. So maybe instead of replacing the dance, we could make it more family friendly? Instead of hardcore raves, what about having something like a dancing contest? People could compete in dancing well-known anime dances (Hare Hare Yukai? ), or we could bring up volunteers willing to teach them too us. Or maybe a costume ball would work too, something a little less raunchy and more apropriate, considering most people are already in costume and won't need to change into their furry leg warmers or speedos.

It's also already been sugessted, but perhaps ACEN could arrange to use one of the rooms that's less easy to damage, and have the rave in there. Alcohol could be restricted to this dance only, and there could be an ID requirement to get in, incase you've been caught dammaging property. The ticket idea would be great too, it would certainly prevent a line con incident (Maybe they should youse that for the masqurade too).

Sorry if any of these ideas sound offensive/idiotic. Just throwing some sugestions out there~

[Krystal]

What if the dances are 18 over or even 21 over? That would get rid of sone crowd and also the immature drunk minors...

[flyingcabbit]

I am most likely going to get alot of flak for my opinions, but as someone who has been coming to this con for 13 years and has seen the damage, known the staff, etc etc and so forth...

Without a doubt the SOAP Bubble & the set-up of that dance and the others are the root of some very big problems.

Yeah yeah, you can say that they aren't but it's true, the bigger the soap bubble gets the more crap that happens. When it was a tiny "dance" and a not a "rave" I seriously do not remember the con being plague with these sorts of problems. Raves are known for the drug use, while we might not be having everyone tripping on acid, there are people that do, or use other drugs of choice.

You, while you can't prevent the stupid, you shouldn't can not encourage it either. Acen encourages it by hosting one of the biggest raves around now.

And side note, who is to say that the person who threw the bottle at the dome didn't come from Soap Bubble? We're in a hotel people...not that fair to get to your room.

As for constructive crits here:

1. You can most certainly charge for the rave. You do so by not charging for admission, but for early admission. So take whatever the room occupancy is for the ballroom X 10.00. People who buy that extra ticket get into the rave for the first 3 hours, and make sure you have a "special" dj or performer during that time.
->This will also reduce the line, because anyone who doesn't have this early admission can't get it, so they can't line up. Also anyone who really wants to be there, will be there for that special performer, etc.

2. REALLY ENFORCE CURFEW. If it takes color coding badges, do it. Mark the 17 & under badges somehow so IRT/Security can you know tell the kiddies to beat it. As for those who will tell me that they do...sure...yeah you do, which is why I see tons of underage rave kiddies still wondering around past curfew.

3. Maybe consider hiring a private security firm for Saturday night. I know IRT works themselves to the bone, but they and what few Rosemont cops show up now aren't cutting it anymore. Have them work main floor and the rave, while IRT will be freed up to walk the hotel grounds more and check on room parties.

4. Acen will never be a dry con, because the hotel itself sells booze on the grounds. Sorry, but the Hyatt isn't going to loose that chunk of it's profits from the weekend.

5. I <3 the idea of the drug sniffing dogs doing the rounds. And I fully support this. However training in the environment that is Acen is probably not going to happen and they will most likely need to use experienced dogs. But still, I fully support this, and I have horrible allergies to everything.

6. Stop emphasizing SOAP BUBBLE/DJS/DANCES as such a big part of the con. Hell, I'll add the concerts into that too. While they are nice and all, it needs to stop being such a large focal point of this con. I would rather see two more awesome Japanese guest then the dance.

And finally, I am not anti-bubble. I used to go, and I used to love it. Hell, I danced up on the main stage multiple times over the years. But it's getting too big and too out of hand for the con to handle, and while it isn't responsible for all bad behavior it does more then it's fair share of encouraging it now.