[Izuro]

I agree with everything said in this post. Like I mentioned in the con gripe thread, I wasn't attending or participating in the masquerade this year, but reading all of this still hurts. I can't really put it eloquently but it's certainly Not Okay and I can't get over the shock that it actually happened. I'm really sorry to everyone who had this taken away from them. I'm really sorry for everyone who's been let down. Like people have said, there are always things that will go Not As Planned at anime conventions, and I've been to many where the masquerade had been delayed terribly and other sorts of issues due to various circumstances, but never one where it was put in jeopardy like that. Never, ever have I seen one actually cancelled. The higher ups can say what they want and promise what they want for next year, but this incident isn't ever going to go away, and I'm certainly never going to forget it. I'm not gonna lie; I'm borderline crying and I wasn't anywhere near the event. I can say I understand how those involved must feel, but it's not the same as having gone through the experience, and while the sympathies of some random fellow cosplayer may not add up to anything, my heart really does go out to everyone. I do hope there is no chance that this will ever be repeated, but to me, it's never even been a possibility before, and one can't ever say that again. This is an irreversible error, and I guess what makes me mad and genuinely upset is that the decision-makers either didn't care enough to realize that, or that they realized it and cared even less.

[sabre]

.... so I'm getting on a plane in 8 hours, haven't even packed for the trip, and should be asleep. Dang it.

I intended to wait a week before posting but... http://www.acen.org/...tume-events-dh/

I intend to be back next year. We WILL get this fixed. It doesn't help this year, I can never fix this year, but dang it -- we will get this fixed or my badge will be laying on the stage.

Jon

Masquerade DH
2009 -

[Jazhed508]

This is just a small request:

Please do not blame the Soap Bubble for this. Yes, they benefited from this situation. However, there is a bit of information that people are missing.

Before the fire alarm happened, the SoapBubble promoter was on his cell phone, telling all his DJs to delay, that a several time crunch had happened. He was rolling with the punches and adapted. I was backstage, fully dressed up, ready to do yet another role within the Masquerade when I saw and heard him doing this. For those that do not know me, I use to be the one that ran it before Jon took over for me.

Ultimately, it was the fire alarm that was the lynch pin for this.

I may be lying but those of you who have had dealings with me know that I try to be a plain dealing person, not given to falsehoods. I am too uncomplicated for that. Jon and Jessie can freely and willing verify this.

As a member of the Midwest Animation Promotion Society(MAPS), I will do my damnedest to find a solution and help with the recovery of this entire situation.

Jason Jensen
jasonj.maps@acen.org

[flyingcabbit]

Jazhed508, on 01 May 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

This is just a small request:

Please do not blame the Soap Bubble for this. Yes, they benefited from this situation. However, there is a bit of information that people are missing.

Before the fire alarm happened, the SoapBubble promoter was on his cell phone, telling all his DJs to delay, that a several time crunch had happened. He was rolling with the punches and adapted. I was backstage, fully dressed up, ready to do yet another role within the Masquerade when I saw and heard him doing this. For those that do not know me, I use to be the one that ran it before Jon took over for me.

Ultimately, it was the fire alarm that was the lynch pin for this.

I may be lying but those of you who have had dealings with me know that I try to be a plain dealing person, not given to falsehoods. I am too uncomplicated for that. Jon and Jessie can freely and willing verify this.

As a member of the Midwest Animation Promotion Society(MAPS), I will do my damnedest to find a solution and help with the recovery of this entire situation.

Jason Jensen
jasonj.maps@acen.org

You're right. I don't blame the Soap Bubble. I blame the rest of the poor decisions made by staff earlier in the day and the day before that lead to the delays.

So, if you want to find a solution, simple make sure there is no concerts getting a 12 song encore, etc etc etc.

And then I add blame to the Soap Bubble for being an event at an anime con, that, I feel has to much importance being put on it. You guys have to start thinking that for every person that goes to the Soap Bubble there is someone that doesn't.

I seriously feel like there has been this trend of "Let's have bands and dances and then fill in the gaps with programming that really don't matter." instead of "Let's have awesome all around programming that is cooly done and well set up, and lets include a concert and a dance to round it out."

I've been reading through the forums and I've read a lot more bad things about "all" the dances this year. And one or two concerts are fine, but there was seven. Not to mention 14 DJs, and about 23 regular type guest, and then 7 other musical guests. (I'll note that that number is not technically right since I am just counting entries in the program book, not actually people.)

So about half of the guest at an anime convention where musical guest. To me, something seems wrong with that. It's like going into jewelry store and finding half of what the store is, is shoes. Yes they are both accessories, but I wasn't shoe shopping. I go to Acen for anime, just like I go to Wizard & C2e2 for comics and geek culture, and I go to horror cons for Horror things.

And when y'all cut the masquerade, it was like "Why am I here?" or when you have lines for hours, only to have the program run two hours late.

The staff and those who run the con to have the ability to tell guest "NO." and they need to wrap up. I'm pretty sure you have contracts with the guest correct? Word those contracts correctly, pull up your big boy and big girl pants, and run this con. Acen used to get respect, but with year passing year I feel like it's becoming more and more of a joke. And when this happened with the masquerade, a lot of people feel that way now too.

Re-evaluate what you want "The Midwest Anime and Manga Convention" to actually be please. Because if it continues to be like this, I seriously suggest just taking anime and manga out of the title.

This post has been edited by flyingcabbit: 01 May 2012 - 12:50 AM

[Lina]

Jazhed508, on 01 May 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

This is just a small request:

Please do not blame the Soap Bubble for this. Yes, they benefited from this situation. However, there is a bit of information that people are missing.

Before the fire alarm happened, the SoapBubble promoter was on his cell phone, telling all his DJs to delay, that a several time crunch had happened. He was rolling with the punches and adapted. I was backstage, fully dressed up, ready to do yet another role within the Masquerade when I saw and heard him doing this. For those that do not know me, I use to be the one that ran it before Jon took over for me.

Ultimately, it was the fire alarm that was the lynch pin for this.

I may be lying but those of you who have had dealings with me know that I try to be a plain dealing person, not given to falsehoods. I am too uncomplicated for that. Jon and Jessie can freely and willing verify this.

As a member of the Midwest Animation Promotion Society(MAPS), I will do my damnedest to find a solution and help with the recovery of this entire situation.

Jason Jensen
jasonj.maps@acen.org

Why would you cancel the Masquerade and then extend the Soap Bubble? I fail to see the logic. The Masquerade got the short end of the stick. The Masquerade should take priority and should have continued instead of cancelling it to make sure the Soap Bubble starts on time. I am severely disappointed in this decision. A couple of my friends worked extremely hard for months on their costumes and were very upset that they could not perform their skit because of this not-so-smart decision. If I were in the masquerade, I definitely would not come back.

[Jazhed508]

Lina, on 01 May 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

Why would you cancel the Masquerade and then extend the Soap Bubble? I fail to see the logic. The Masquerade got the short end of the stick. The Masquerade should take priority and should have continued instead of cancelling it to make sure the Soap Bubble starts on time. I am severely disappointed in this decision. A couple of my friends worked extremely hard for months on their costumes and were very upset that they could not perform their skit because of this not-so-smart decision. If I were in the masquerade, I definitely would not come back.

The decision came from the ACen level management, not the MAPS Board.

I too was suppose to be in the Masquerade so I can relate REALLY well with the upset feelings. I had put in an excessive amount of time and labor into my costume.

All I can do is promise to do my best that this never happens again.

Jason - Preparing for a revolution.

[MH121]

sabre, on 30 April 2012 - 10:48 PM, said:

.... so I'm getting on a plane in 8 hours, haven't even packed for the trip, and should be asleep. Dang it.

I intended to wait a week before posting but... http://www.acen.org/...tume-events-dh/

I intend to be back next year. We WILL get this fixed. It doesn't help this year, I can never fix this year, but dang it -- we will get this fixed or my badge will be laying on the stage.

Jon

Masquerade DH
2009 -

Thank you so much for posting this earlier than you had intended. My greatest respect for the masquerade staff. No issue with rave fans and DJs. Nothing against the band that played 18 songs set. The problem is with the people managing the room resource and time limits. They let the ball drop and then made a poor, poor decision.

[Izuro]

Jazhed508, on 01 May 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

The decision came from the ACen level management, not the MAPS Board.

I too was suppose to be in the Masquerade so I can relate REALLY well with the upset feelings. I had put in an excessive amount of time and labor into my costume.

All I can do is promise to do my best that this never happens again.

Jason - Preparing for a revolution.

One has to mention the Soap Bubble because no matter what the reasons for it were, the masquerade was cut short to allow for the Soap Bubble. For something so important as the masquerade, I honestly find that difficult to not take as a personal attack on the cosplayers who came to this anime/manga convention. No one is blaming the people running the Soap Bubble, of course. Everyone understands they had just as little decision as those running the masquerade. But as it stands, I don't see any other reason for why the masquerade should have been cancelled other than to allow the Soap Bubble to run on time, and there aren't really any fancy words for it. It just isn't fair.

[Kasemei]

Jadante, on 30 April 2012 - 09:24 AM, said:

I don't know his name, but the guy who had to announce to the crowd that skits were cancelled and looked/sounded like he was going to cry absolutely broke my heart. I think he was as crushed as the rest of us, and for what? So a non-anime rave can go at an /anime/ convention?

That would actually be Jon, the man who previews all the skits ALL of Friday and Saturday and gives each skit tips on how to do better for the show. He's the one that lines everyone up, gets everyone ready for the show, and prepares the show MONTHS ahead of time.

Also, there was no fire in the Hyatt. Some idiot decided it would be really smart to trigger a fire alarm.

[Jadante]

Kasemei, on 01 May 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

That would actually be Jon, the man who previews all the skits ALL of Friday and Saturday and gives each skit tips on how to do better for the show. He's the one that lines everyone up, gets everyone ready for the show, and prepares the show MONTHS ahead of time.

Well, shoot. That would explain quite a bit. He looked familiar to me, but I'm absolutely terrible with names. I felt terrible for him. I wished I could have done something to help him out, but... well, I'm not going to re-hash what I said, but he certainly deserves better than what he got.

[MH121]

It will be interesting to see if the person or persons who actually made the decision will have enough backbone to post in public of the reasoning he/she/they went through to cancel half of the masquerade so that a rave can start on time, when almost nothing that weekend started on time in the main ballroom. But, I am not holding my breath on this ....

[ATICE]

I saw a lot of panel rooms in the convention center, and I was just wondering if those were reserved for the card games or could they move the time of the card games next year and have the masquerade in there? If any of the panel rooms was big enough, because there's always something happening at the hyatt every year, it just seems like the best idea to me... but idk...

This post has been edited by ATICE: 01 May 2012 - 02:44 PM

[Lukage]

I'd like to send my condolences to the people who didn't get to perform, the people who spent hundreds of hours in preparation. The people who spend hundreds of dollars, took time off work, and lost resources to only be offered a free badge for their troubles. I can best define the convention by what the site's front page states for someone who isn't there every year to know what this place is REALLY like.

Quote

Anime Central (ACen) is Chicago’s and the Midwest’s largest anime, manga and Japanese popular culture convention. The convention is currently held in Rosemont, IL, less than 30 minutes from downtown Chicago.

As part of its mission, ACen brings fans together with guests from the Japanese and US sectors of the anime and manga industry, as well as gaming, cinema, and Asian culture personalities. The event includes a huge exhibit hall, a massive video game room, concerts, dances, educational panels and workshops, premiere screenings, autograph sessions, 24-hour video rooms, tabletop gaming and much, much more!

Be honest with yourselves here ACEN and admit you screwed up. Admit that you took priority of a non-anime event because thats where you believe you're more likely to line your pockets. Its a shame nobody will step up and say "Yeah, I made the decision and I screwed up." At the heart of this problem, you had to make a decision. I understand you can't move the rave to a different room and had to make cuts in programming somewhere. You chose the rave over the masquerade. Anyone here defending that action and saying that its not an issue of rave vs. masquerade is wrong. Its no different than a problem in a panel room. Say there's a problem with a Puni Puni Poemy panel, but next up you've got Vic in that room. You'll have to cut the first panel short. I get it. But you honestly think its fine to cut short something that is a core part of the convention, what some people have prepped months for? An event that defines your convention by name, ANIME. You cut out that programming then rush the ending of it so you can start an event on time? Yes there are thousands of people there in line for the rave, but it goes on for a scheduled frame of seven hours. You couldn't take an hour out of that?

Your rave is such a problem. How many ambulance visits are because of it? Either some idiot sneaking in drugs and ODing (which is a whole different conversation I could rant about), someone legitimately dancing and getting hurt, or a fight or brawl between two guys trying to score with some underaged girl that violates the dress code policy you refuse to enforce for the event. Trash all over the premises and drunk people grieving other guests because they can't handle their liquor or are underaged in the first place...the whole thing is a mess that you're letting go every year, only then encouraging it to get worse and letting those same people behave just as poorly the next year.

So what is it, ACEN? Are you a party convention with some anime programming or are you an anime convention with other unrelated events? The money you pour into fashion and non-anime musical guests are pushing the definition of anime. I do appreciate that you keep them related as best as you can and that these people can relate to the Japanese culture. You want to cater to as many different types of people as possible, but you need to establish a definition. As far as I'm concerned, you're defining yourselves as a party convention with incredibly lenient security and enforcement of policies that put safety first. As far as I'm concerned, you're making sure the parties can go on. You had a "party floor" at the Hyatt last year designated.

tldr; ACEN had to cut something and they felt their profits, reputation, and best interests were in keeping an 8-hour party.

[glenburg89]

It almost seems like the Soap Bubble could have used its extra hour to be pushed back. When looking at both events, the Soap Bubble had a little bit more flexibility due to its hours. It seemed more practical to cut the Soap Bubble slightly short and push it back to maybe 11:00 pm or Midnight (It's a night owl's party afterall). Lets be honest, how many people actually stay at the Soap Bubble the entire time without leaving at some point? I remember one year I got into the Soap Bubble at 1 am and still enjoyed myself.

Point is, the Masquerade could have still utilized its 3 hours without the Soap Bubble getting cut.
Of course what's done is done and we can't change the past.

These are just my opinions and thoughts; take it with a grain of salt.

This post has been edited by glenburg89: 01 May 2012 - 03:51 PM

[ATICE]

Jazhed508, on 01 May 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

The decision came from the ACen level management, not the MAPS Board.

I too was suppose to be in the Masquerade so I can relate REALLY well with the upset feelings. I had put in an excessive amount of time and labor into my costume.

All I can do is promise to do my best that this never happens again.

Jason - Preparing for a revolution.

Was the ACEN level management feeling okay? I mean, pretty much at every anime con I've been to.. the masquerade has had the highest priority above all other programming for the attendees. I don't really go to the masquerade, myself, because I have too much stuff going on that I have to watch it online... but yeah... Very bad call, especially to EXTEND the soap bubble. It's already going on for how many hours? o_O Yeah okay... Not trying to sound like a jerk or a butthead, but yeah...

This post has been edited by ATICE: 01 May 2012 - 04:37 PM

[Kisa_Bunnie]

I first want to let the staff know they did a wonderful job handling the situation. I don't think anyone could have foreseen the fire alarm going off...I think next year the people who had skits for ACEN 2012 should get priority over new skits should the old skits want to enter again...I know many people worked hard on their skits and were crushed when they couldn't show off all their hard work..

AT THE SAME TIME I understand why the staff chose to cut the masquerade instead of pushing back the rave. What it comes down to is DJ's, cleaning staff, all of that costs MONEY, and not just a small amount.. whereas cosplayers come free once they pay their badges. From a financial perspective it was the right decision. It just sucks the skits and the people who put the work into them got jipped.

Again, the staff did the best they could and I don't think anyone else could have done it better.



The thing I would like to see change with the masquerade is the categories. It seems silly to me to have so much of the convention incorporate non Japanese/Korean things yet the masquerade seeks to exclude them. If your walk on/skit is not Japanese/Korean, you cannot participate in the masquerade and are deferred to hallway cosplay which only recently added a section to accommodate the cosplays that don't fall under a Japanese/Korean origin. Once upon a time when acen was purely an anime convention that may have been just fine and dandy, but let's face it...the con isn't about just anime/manga/japan anymore. It's changed and I think it's ridiculous the masquerade discriminates against non Japanese/Korean cosplayers and remains the same. That's what I would like to see changed about the masquerade. Either make the convention purely Japanese/Korean and get rid of the rest (this would also mean almost all the video games btw) or integrate.

This post has been edited by Kisa_Bunnie: 01 May 2012 - 08:31 PM

[Jadante]

Kisa_Bunnie, on 01 May 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:

The thing I would like to see change with the masquerade is the categories. It seems silly to me to have so much of the convention incorporate non Japanese/Korean things yet the masquerade seeks to exclude them. If your walk on/skit is not Japanese/Korean, you cannot participate in the masquerade and are deferred to hallway cosplay which only recently added a section to accommodate the cosplays that don't fall under a Japanese/Korean origin.

Piggybacking off this:

Last year, someone had a Harry Dresden cosplay walk-on from The Dresden Files, which is a book series written by an American author. Was this just an oversight, then? I don't really know the Masquerade entry rules that well.

[manga1]

The guy in question is John Baugh the head of the masqurade, he was the one that had made the announcement, his wife laura is part of the midwest cosplay group sewing is half the battle and also was to compete in skit on said night, I know them from running the masq at ikasucon they are really nice people and down to earth, John gave us a deep appology when we came down at the feedback session on sunday for the masq, and told us the reason he helps put on masqarades is that one time at a con he had a horrorable experiance doing cosplay and said he could do much better and strives to do so each time he puts one together, and said that he would be talking to the dept heads over the next year to cut down on the use of main events so that they have more time in between events to set up or leadway if something goes wrong like it did on saturday, and get that extra time they said they have been promising him the last 5 years.

John is one of the nicest cosplay people I know and the least angry or stressed out people, and if he is he dont take it out on others, and is a true leader in that respect to be a department head of the masquerade at a large con like this one.

[ThatOneChick]

This American cosplay stuff is REALLY get out of hand. Guys we have a lot more stuff to worry about right now then whether or not the Masquerade is going to get an American cosplay category, especially since the entire department is still deciding whether or not they are staying. Posting this in EVERY THREAD including ones from LAST YEAR and starting new threads is getting ridiculous, so I am saying this ONCE:

We cannot check EVERY person that enters to make sure they are following the rules and we do NOT know EVERY single thing people are cosplaying from. We assume everyone is following the rules like they are supposed to. THAT BEING SAID, we did check entries this year.

Second, this is an anime and Japanese culture convention.

Third, allowing American cosplay would open a FLOOD GATE we're not sure we can handle. We are not short on entries and frankly we really don't want 500 My Little Pony and Homestuck skits.


Please please PLEASE just let this go for right now and ask about it at a much more appropriate time. We've already addressed this once this year, this is now the second time.

[XenoBlade]

im not going to mirror, but this was a very very poor decision. Not only was the masq really late with ppl (including me) stuck in the cold for hours, but all the skits and coslays...i truly feel sorry for them. But to have the rave go on...practically full time? Wat? that's a huge insult.

Acen, this is NOT how you stop people from complaining bout the soap bubble being a waste and wrong crowd attractor. While i dislike the soap bubble already, the fact it got priority? Yeah, ill stop there.

[rondo]

Simply put, and has been mentioned, the Masque needs to be THE anchor of Saturday and any facilities affected by the program works around it. Things that take up Masque resources needs to be on time, on the dot. Excuses out the window. By giving the Masque its intended and needed time, occasional hiccups can be worked around. Sorry, SB must take a back seat to the Masque, even if needs to be moved to a different spot/day.

[linlindesu]

I don't want to start a witch hunt here
but anyone that made this call, that made the masquerade staff go up front and tell everyone
they need to be fired.
I wouldn't be surprised if the entire cosplay staff left over this .
Because this is a member owned con ( we buy memberships when we purchase badges) don't we have the right to say who should be on the chopping block this year?
Just my 2 cents.

[Oyuki]

I also find it illogical for some dance to take precedence and priority over the most significant anime/manga/Japanese culture event of the convention.
How much would it have costed to delay it another couple of hours? I also thought IRT wasn't letting anyone line up until 30 mins before any event (which obviously was never enforced).
Couldn't the DJs just chill for a bit or something? A fire alarm did just go off. What makes them and the party so much more important than such a completely relevant program? Krystal Cosplay implored that we civilly voice our outrage/disappointment, but the circumstances make it very difficult.

[sabre]

I know for a fact the DJs were okay with starting late; they started late on Sat to help me get as much on stage as I could, just as they had the night before. I'm going to work on learning more details, but I'm pretty sure Kisa_bunny has a point: keeping cleaning staff later than planned has some real costs associated.

[flyingcabbit]

Is there anyway to start the masquerade earlier in the day? And then have like a simple program afterwards that cut be cut for set-up if needed?

Like running AMVs or something similar? Call it the acen dinner theater or something.

My perfect set-up would be like this.

Masquerade line up start 4:15
Masquerade Start: 5:00
Masquerade End: 8:00
Buffer Half Hour for clear out, partial set-up.
Insert Program like Anime Hell, Oregon Trail, special sponsored premiere here. Panty & Stocking

While said program is going on you can have line up going on outside for Soap Bubble.

[Dark Stranger]

I think this is a good red flag to alot of DHs that ACEN has gotten TOO BIG. There has been too many problems and something like this should be a final nail on the head. Even though I've never been to masq's in person. (never got in line early enough) I have always watched whatever I could on youtube on here on the fourms if someone has posted them. And they are always great. And everyone enjoys them. Plus it's one of the more positive sides of a con or our culture. To cut it off to make room for something that always seems to have the worst come out a lot of the time doesn't seem right. yes it is just as popular if not more so, yes it is fun the ones i've gone to, but the downside of it is, it also seems to cause the most problems.

I didn't come this year due to many reasons, after something like this happing (as well as other things I've read and heard from other friends) I'm pretty sure I'm not going next year.

[SurvivalStrategy]

sabre, on 02 May 2012 - 10:17 PM, said:

I know for a fact the DJs were okay with starting late; they started late on Sat to help me get as much on stage as I could, just as they had the night before. I'm going to work on learning more details, but I'm pretty sure Kisa_bunny has a point: keeping cleaning staff later than planned has some real costs associated.

For cleaning up between the masquerade and the rave? Is this done by hotel staff and not volunteers? It's good to hear there's some reasoning to this, but it doesn't sound like anything that couldn't have been solved by telling the audience and passing a hat around (obviously a simplification, but you get the point--this was more important to people than money, and therefore the money thing could be solved, or if you needed volunteers you would have more than enough, or really any applicable format of human energy was readily available to try and fix this problem. Where there's a will there's a way, that's how conventions even run, but it feels like that will was lacking on the highest level and I think that's what people are going to be angry about).

[Lina]

SurvivalStrategy, on 03 May 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

For cleaning up between the masquerade and the rave? Is this done by hotel staff and not volunteers? It's good to hear there's some reasoning to this, but it doesn't sound like anything that couldn't have been solved by telling the audience and passing a hat around (obviously a simplification, but you get the point--this was more important to people than money, and therefore the money thing could be solved, or if you needed volunteers you would have more than enough, or really any applicable format of human energy was readily available to try and fix this problem. Where there's a will there's a way, that's how conventions even run, but it feels like that will was lacking on the highest level and I think that's what people are going to be angry about).

They had anyone who could help (volunteers and con staff), help clean up and set up. They were calling for all hands on deck. It sounded like they were trying super hard to get the Soap Bubble to start on time.

[Mullenkamp]

If there had been a choice between letting the masq be cancelled or coming by when the masq was finished to stack chairs/sweep/vacuum/etc. for a half hour or so, I know I definitely would have come over to help clean up, even though I wasn't involved in the masq this year. I'm sure there are a lot of other people who would have pitched in too, if the alternative was the masq being cut off like that.

(Now, cleaning up after the Soap Bubble? D: Nooooo. You could not pay me enough. Bill Gates could not pay me enough.)

[Cricket]

Oyuki, on 02 May 2012 - 02:47 PM, said:

I also find it illogical for some dance to take precedence and priority over the most significant anime/manga/Japanese culture event of the convention.
How much would it have costed to delay it another couple of hours? I also thought IRT wasn't letting anyone line up until 30 mins before any event (which obviously was never enforced).

Note: My opinions are mine and do not express the feelings of ACEN, IRT or it's staff.

Side note: This is a long post.


As far as the quoted topic goes goes, We tried, With 10 people dedicated to lines, we tried clearing the lines out, we tried to keep the hallways clear, but some people just wouldn't move, or they would move and go to the outside area where we HAVE to have the overflow from the indoors. You then have to remember if we tell people that they can't line up or stand there and to go take a walk, we have a bunch of angry people. Add on to the fact with everything being pushed back for hours it becomes a question of When do you line up? the sign says line starts at (8pm for this) well it's 9pm and things aren't set up, where do we put those people? Tell them to come back in an hour and HOPE they can line up? That gives IRT a bad rap because now we are being jerks and turning everyone away until "Whenever it starts". (Which sadly i had to tell people IN line more then a few times)

Now to play devils advocate here for a moment because there are a few things that haven't been mentioned. Bands running late, bands doing 2 hour sound checks? There isn't much people can do about that, Do you know why? ACen pays for these people to come here, dealing with studios, record labels and distributors. If the staff say...Forced bands off stage in the middle of a set because of time restraints they go back to their people and complain and soon no guest from that label will show up. That's a sad fact of industry business that nobody ever needs to deal with.

As far as having a bunch of musical guests, ACen was during golden week in japan.

I love the masquerade to death, Hell i was the door man with the clicker counting people in and got to see each and every person that wanted to see it, BUT, and this is a big but, After the fire alarm a majority of people skipped it and waited in line for the rave.

That being said, i'm going to touch on the first mention of bands here again, ACen pays money along with food and lodging for the DJ's. does anyone believe its financially "Okay" to pay 3-4 DJ's who never go on? We run into the label problem again of people black listing the event and convention.

Now with all that said and done, Do i think it was fair or right? I believe it was a questionable call, But i can try to understand why things happen the way they do. And if you don't like it? Well i'll say something you aren't expecting. Help staff it. if there is some bit of "Magic" that you can bring to help things run better, by all means, Help us, Help us build a better convention then the year before. Each and every person is a volunteer that puts time and effort into doing the best they can and when we stumble and we need help, Be there to help us get back up.

(A small story to go with the previous statement, while everyone was inside enjoying the masquerade, myself and the line crew had to deal with a crowd that was getting loud and restless. and seriously having 400 people in hallway screaming at the top of their lungs "This is BULL****" because the rave hadn't started isn't a situation for the feint of heart but that comes with the job of doing IRT)


-Jason W "Raze"

This post has been edited by Cricket: 03 May 2012 - 02:20 PM