[cactusmomma]

What did you guys think of this year? Enjoy meeting new people? Did you find things chaotic and cold? Have suggestions for next year?

Things covered in other threads:
Hijacker? There was a gentleman who kept trying to take over meetups around the east outdoor wall and lower dome. To my knowledge, he wasn't on staff at all and will be taken care of for the future. Apologies for anyone who was confused or intimidated by the guy. Due to this, I will be going back to the minimal of 2 people to run each shoot.

Rain backups? We did have them for the most part.. the larger meets went to the con center lobby, while the other groups were supposed to meet in the lower dome and would be sharing the area.

Customer service? Customer service was made aware of the backups and were supposed to have pointed folks to the places.

I do apologize to everyone for the lack of having staffers to help guide people around. I do also want to wholeheartedly thank the one gopher that I had and Brian for helping out. You both were amazing help!

Let your voices be heard here and we will take absolutely everything into consideration for next year!

[linlindesu]

only compliant is with attendees with handsy issues. I'm sorry but my poor husband was choked out of nowhere in one shoot and had ladies all over his legs in the others.
Which neither poses with the characters made any sense ( mami would never choke kyubey... the hell =_= ). So if we need to go over basic manners with attendees, dumb it down even, I'd sit through it because that was just not cool.

[KnitChick]

I loved that there were little camera icons in the program book map. My request is, could there be signs at each location? There was some confusion as to which loading dock was which.

I really hope the hijacker gets caught. Any descriptions come out yet? Or photos? We had the Doctor Who shoot hijacked a couple of years ago and it sucked so much.

I'm wondering if we can use some spaces over by the other hotels if we need more spaces? Nothing's coming to me off the top of my head (con-brain) but it's a thought to look into.

Let me know if you need any help!

[cactusmomma]

I have the information on the hijacker now and we are dealing with him accordingly.

[Dark_Tsubasa]

I think the shoots were pretty good organization-wise. However I kept running into people who had no idea where the shoots were supposed to take place. It would be really nice if IRT or the other volunteers that are helping run ACEN to have knowledge of where the locations of the shoots are. What I mean is that they should be able to direct people to the locations of shoots, not know off the top of their heads where specific shoots are located. It would really help cut down confusion on locations, and help people like me who get lost easily.

I had help running the Tales of... shoot, and was really grateful for it. I like the idea of making every shoot have 2 people to run it, since it would hopefully help with the organization process. There were occasional issues where people participating in the shoots would not listen or would start doing their own shoots in the middle of the single shoot, but there's little that can be done about that by authoritative figures.

While I know it's impossible to really put into effect, I would like to see some kind of "etiquette" post that explains what's appropriate for shoots and what isn't, as well as what order things should be requested in (such as keeping Yaoi for the end of the shoot so other, more cannon shots can be taken). Just some food for thought.

Overall, though, pretty darn good.

[ATICE]

I know it will probably not be something easy to ask for... but more photoshoots inside either the hyatt or the con center would be awesome. Even if next year's convention is at a later date, the photoshoots (especially at the loading docks) were not only way too crowded for anyone coming in 15 minutes after a shoot started to snag photos *breathes*, but also it was so cold outside that some cosplayers only showed up for 5 minutes and left. Uhm... I was thinking the convention center could be used more, and also idk how big the panel rooms are... but you could probably get a photoshoot in one or two of them as well. I saw a few other good locations, but I noticed that some of the panels going on... way too unattended, so much that they could've been cut & a photoshoot or two could've happened in there... The big one on Saturday night on the main floor had this pokemon panel in it and i was like "WOAH" at how huge it was... but I don't know if cosplay photoshoots can be held in panel rooms. I've never seen it done, can't hurt to try though... *shrugs*

This is also only my second year, but I did A LOT of wandering last year... so... I think there were some rooms on the 2nd floor of the con center that looked like they weren't being used either. Do those cost acen extra to use or could we actually get some photoshoots up in there? that would be so freaking awesome if we could!

Other than that, lower dome and east outdoor wall seemed like really good spots for photoshoots. Especially the east outdoor wall one for being right outside the hotel, so if someone got cold they could run right in. haha.

This post has been edited by ATICE: 30 April 2012 - 11:25 PM

[TaiyakiOni]

This year had the same problem of larger cosplay groups over running or blocking the smaller groups at the loading docks, forcing the smaller group to relocate to another location.

Our Persona meet up on Friday for one was completely blocked from our location by the Homestuck group and even when asked to make room at our designated location we were shut down by them and no IRT was visible to get help resolving the situation. In the end we relocated to across the street from the loading docks for our shoot.

I think IRT should possibly have one or two people stationed at the loading docks in case this happens again in the future.

[Hoshigumo]

Echoing the frustration with the Persona shoot. Had similar difficulties finding the relocated Final Fantasy shoot.

An issue with the Midnight Persona shoot was the number of times trolls decided to take advantage of the upper dome level overlooking our group, and began throwing objects down at us. Thankfully the debris was limited to relatively light things such as discarded plastic cups, but had they decided to step up to bottles or anything heavier, people -would- have been injured. I realize this is a largely an IRT conern, but letting whomever runs a shoot in the lower dome location know of the possibility of something similar occuring would be good. It never hurts to have a heads-up.

Otherwise, my group experienced no inappropriate touching, rude shoot leaders, or any other inconvenience at the shoots. They were very well-run for the number of people.

[Linny Binny]

I agree with the fact that maybe some ACen personnel could be stricter on the locations of the shoots. My boyfriend and I were supposed to run the Naruto shoot on Saturday, but when we got there at 4:28 (the shoot started at 4:30) someone had taken control of the group and moved it the main lobby of the Hyatt. They didn't even bother to wait a couple minutes. It took us awhile to catch up and so we ended up missing quite a few photo sessions because of it. I think that perhaps as a suggestion the ACen staff should have a list of each shoot and who, according to the ACen forums, is supposed to run it.

[Tombolo]

It would also be good if people could do better jobs of letting people know shoots are moved. That's on the shoot leaders rather than con staff, I think, but there were a couple of times I showed up and...nobody was there, nor was there any hint where anybody was.

I was also mildly frustrated by the sheer volume of Homestuck. I have absolutely no idea what can be done, but being the short guy I am, I wasn't really able to see either shoot. To be fair, both times I failed to show up early, but....it was kinda a bummer finding a massive wall of people between me and the folks I wanted to shoot. :\

[wenchman]

The hetalia gatherings went well! We were worried about rain check, so specific locations would be nice. Thanks for putting us near IRT, too. That was helpful in case anything serious occured. I also liked how there were more locations this year.

TaiyakiOni, on 01 May 2012 - 12:18 AM, said:

This year had the same problem of larger cosplay groups over running or blocking the smaller groups at the loading docks, forcing the smaller group to relocate to another location.

Our Persona meet up on Friday for one was completely blocked from our location by the Homestuck group and even when asked to make room at our designated location we were shut down by them and no IRT was visible to get help resolving the situation. In the end we relocated to across the street from the loading docks for our shoot.

I think IRT should possibly have one or two people stationed at the loading docks in case this happens again in the future.

I would like to personally apologise to the FLCL gatherers on Saturday, for possibly blocking out your shoot for the first ten minutes. I did have all the hetalia gatherers move to the far end of the docks so there would be less spillage into yours, but if it was not successful, I am very sorry and I hope that next year, the leader will be able to keep watch of this.

This post has been edited by wenchman: 01 May 2012 - 02:55 PM

[woozle]

One thing i would like to see changed is maybe more places to do photoshoots. My Silent Hill group had to go inside after a short while because of the cold, and we had a really hard time finding a place inside where we could take pictures. PLaces were already in use, or unusable. We finally got the Rorouni Kenshin photoshoot to be able to share their space with us, but then the fire alarm went off...But if there were more locations where people could do gatherings, especially inside in case of colder weather, that would be very helpful.

[Goldeneyeuro]

Most of the photoshoots I went to ran smoothly in terms of timeliness and getting everyone to participate. Most people seemed to be able to get into the spirit and in character, while still keeping it sane. And kudos for putting the schedule up in the book along with locations clearly designated.

Wish there were signs up to designate which loading dock was which- maybe rename them like "A2, A3" etc since those were on the signs up above each dock.

The only shoot that didn't go well for me was the Vocaloid shoot on Saturday, which I had touched on in the gripes topic and the Vocaloid 2012 gathering topic. Suggestions on how to avoid a similar fiasco in the future-

1. If a move is necessary, wait until the exact time the photoshoot is supposed to begin before moving locations.
2. Put signs up or designate a staff member to stay at the original location to inform any latecomers of the change in location.
3. Have the leader of the shoot delay it for a few minutes so any newcomers can get to the new location and allow them to go over the designated time if necessary by a little bit so they aren't crunched for time.

Otherwise, it's just the typical photoshoot scenarios that can easily be addressed at each shoot by participants, leaders, and photographers: "Scoot in!" "Make several rows!" "Move backwards!"

All in all, though, I still had a wonderful experience.

[emileighmorgan]

It was my first time going to Acen, and please don't get me wrong, I did thoroughly enjoy myself. However, I was a little disappointed. I missed three photoshoots because of everyone scrambling to one place or another since it was so 'windy and chilly' the entire weekend. A good little back up plan would have been nice to know instead of getting to a place they say to meet to find no one there. And with panels being in two or three different places, it was really hard to keep track of even with the little guidebook.

Quote

1. If a move is necessary, wait until the exact time the photoshoot is supposed to begin before moving locations.
2. Put signs up or designate a staff member to stay at the original location to inform any latecomers of the change in location.
3. Have the leader of the shoot delay it for a few minutes so any newcomers can get to the new location and allow them to go over the designated time if necessary by a little bit so they aren't crunched for time.

I absolutely agree one hundred percent.

This post has been edited by emileighmorgan: 02 May 2012 - 12:36 AM

[roserosered08]

As a group leader, outside weather like saturdays should of been organized by the staff on where to go inside if it rained/cold weather. It was difficult to find a spot inside so my group had to stay outside when 90 percent of the cosplay had not warm weather clothing. We didn't have time to find a location under 30 min. Also our group was assigned for 2:30 on the forums and the program said 2:00 the day of the shoot which i couldnt grab or tell people in time since i had no technology to get online. I actually found this three hours before the shoot when a fan told me about a gurren shoot happening at 2 >.<

[myrla]

Dr Who shoot (Friday) this year went great. Very efficient, kept on target, while last year was fun, it was really, really rowdy and kind of a cluster. This year was efficient, everyone got multiple pictures, and had a great time.

[AshyLi]

The only major problem I had with the photoshoots I went to were the fact that whomever was assigned as the leader wasn't actually there. At the CLAMP photoshoot, my sister actually asked everyone if they wanted her to run it after waiting for about 5 to 10 minutes after the original starting time of the shoot. We went ahead and ran over the time given since no other group came around or asked us to leave. Once the people started coming for the Tales of... shoot, there was again no leader. At least, the person who was supposed to originally lead it wasn't there. My sister stepped in to help along side Dark_Tsubasa who has already posted. I'm almost certain that if one of us wasn't there for the shoot, it would have become totally chaotic. The final shoot I attended was the Smash Bros. I am unsure of if the person who was running it was originally supposed to, but with how everything was a bit unorganized, I would like to say he wasn't. Luckily all three of these pretty much ran smoothly besides some people at the Tales of... shoot doing as they please once or twice.

Dark_Tsubasa, on 30 April 2012 - 11:14 PM, said:

While I know it's impossible to really put into effect, I would like to see some kind of "etiquette" post that explains what's appropriate for shoots and what isn't, as well as what order things should be requested in (such as keeping Yaoi for the end of the shoot so other, more cannon shots can be taken). Just some food for thought.

^This. Even as a fan of boys' love, I feel that if it's yaoi or yuri that isn't cannon, it should be left for the end. Not everyone is into that sort of thing, so leave it for last. Of course not everyone will follow something like this, but it is at least worth being discussed.

Besides what I've already said, the only other problem I had was with taller people standing in front or getting in the way when trying to take a photo. This year, I only had this problem during the Smash Bros shoot, but it's happened other years as well. Though, I'm not 100% sure as to what can be done about this. Maybe having the leader of the photoshoot kindly ask taller people to stand in the back would be nice.

Overall, what I went to was done the best it probably could be with lack of game plan to work with.

[Flame_Alchemist2002]

I thought my photoshoot went well. I like the 2 people in charge idea, except for larger groups (in this case I was leading the kingdom hearts shoot) I had 5 people altogether helping (and they really did help to keep everyone under control and organized).

The only issue I had was at a few points there were a few people who tried to take over the photoshoot (again, one of my helpers stepped in and handled that issue without conflict and without interrupting the photoshoot itself). Before the photoshoot started, everyone was in one spot and we brought everyone close together while we waited for the previous photoshoot to finish. We clearly let everyone know who the helpers were in case they needed help for whatever reason. That is why I didn't understand why people kept trying to take it over.

Other than that, no complaints here.

[Kii]

KnitChick, on 30 April 2012 - 10:02 PM, said:

I loved that there were little camera icons in the program book map.

Yeah! That was basically the only way I got to any of the photoshoots, haha.

I only participated in the One Piece photoshoot and my feedback is:
We moved three times on Saturday. It had to have started early, because by the time I got to the moved location (2 minutes late) the Nami and Sanji group had already taken pictures, so I didn't get to be a part of that.
When we got kicked (someone else had the new spot reserved) and moved to where the photoshoot was originally supposed to be (outside) I wasn't the happiest camper at first because I was wearing a bikini, but I was really grateful after Friday's photoshoot to have some decent lighting and room to move around to get good shots of all of the amazing cosplayers when I wasn't posing. However, we got through one picture when we had to move again, because so many people were complaining about the cold. We ended up all being crammed into a tiny room with the worst lighting imaginable, and we lost half of our cosplayers in the process due to them having to go stand in line for the masquerade and because we couldn't fit them into the room/ they were tired of having to relocate and walked away.
Saturday's One Piece photoshoot was a HUGE disappointment compared to previous years.
The only thing that kept it together was the tiny Chopper lady who was trying her best to direct it. So, thanks Chopper lady!

The Friday One Piece shoot was better, in my opinion. The lighting was still total crap, but it was way more organized and fun. Good job on that one.

[Angel's Kiss Cosplay]

cactusmomma, on 30 April 2012 - 08:13 PM, said:

Things covered in other threads:
Hijacker? There was a gentleman who kept trying to take over meetups around the east outdoor wall and lower dome. To my knowledge, he wasn't on staff at all and will be taken care of for the future. Apologies for anyone who was confused or intimidated by the guy. Due to this, I will be going back to the minimal of 2 people to run each shoot.

If the hijacker was reported at the My Little Pony shoots or the Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt shoot, I know who that is. I can give you the info. Feel free to PM me Cactusmomma if this would be helpful.

This post has been edited by Angel's Kiss Cosplay: 03 May 2012 - 11:25 AM

[CorbeauKarasu]

It sounds like photoshoot hijackers can be a big problem, from some stories friends of mine have told me. I guess we in the MLP and PSG shoots got lucky we got someone who knew what he was doing. I'd have been pissed if those two hadn't gone as well as they did.

My cousin says the One Piece shoot he was in on Saturday was way lamer than the Friday shoot. Did the Saturday one get hijacked?

[Allieelly]

This was the first year I went to any photoshoots, and I thought they were great! There's just a few issues I had with them.

- I had trouble finding the locations! I think they should really be labeled in some way, so that no one gets confused.
- Luckily none of the shoots I went to got rained out, but IT WAS REALLY COLD. Maybe there should be backup locations specified in the guide? So if the group moves people will know where to go.

[kazixcupcake]

Most of the photoshoots that I went to didn't happen because the organizers did not show up. :/ Very disappointed in the photo shoots this year.

[cactusmomma]

CorbeauKarasu, on 03 May 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

My cousin says the One Piece shoot he was in on Saturday was way lamer than the Friday shoot. Did the Saturday one get hijacked?

No, it was a mix-up of communicating lines and trying to find a place where people wouldn't be cold. With so many people in shorts, tanktops and bikini tops, we couldn't have the group outside. The group was supposed to share the dome with K-On, but again, there was a communication crossup.

[plutostar]

yeah....Saturday's One Piece photoshoot....just yeah. I felt more closterfobic there than what i did at the Homestuck photoshoot. Thats one reason why i didnt care to get many photos afterwards. I felt a bit sick and nearly want to puke in my hat.

[Ziondood]

The Haruhui shoot on Saturday in the Lower Dome got delayed by about 15-20 min. because of the Black Butler shoot in the Lower Dome. It wasn't a huge deal because the shoot still happened but there wernt as many people there as anticipated. Possibly because of the delay :/

The Persona shoots were great though! Like TaiyakiOni said we did have to move across the street because of the Homestuck people, and because there was a Huge truck in the way as well!!!! We still had fun so not really to complain :]

This post has been edited by Ziondood: 07 May 2012 - 11:03 AM

[Dark Spellmaster]

Maybe have something set up where if the head of the shoot can't make it due to whatever (Sickness -like me, Panel,etc) someone from the department or staff could take over and help with the shoot. Also would be handy to have some photographers on staff as a means if the picture taker is sick and can't make it or seems to want to be elsewhere.

[Ziondood]

Dark Spellmaster, on 07 May 2012 - 01:32 PM, said:

Maybe have something set up where if the head of the shoot can't make it due to whatever (Sickness -like me, Panel,etc) someone from the department or staff could take over and help with the shoot. Also would be handy to have some photographers on staff as a means if the picture taker is sick and can't make it or seems to want to be elsewhere.

Yea that would be great! Just to have a back up who will be ready for it!!!

[Soldier Saturn]

My complain is the loading docks...they weren't really labeled at all.

At the Pokemon photoshoot on Friday, there was actually someone who pretended to be staff and forced pokemon to move over a dock space (even though pokemon was labeled to be there in the book SOUL CALIBUR! >_< ). This wasn't bad because there was more then enough room on the side of us (why they didn't just go over there...) Point is there was no 'real staff member' to solve this problem and no labels on or near the docks. This was my first time here so I don't know if these are labeled normally or they are 'just as long as they are in that area' type thing.

Also it was 30 degrees outside...anyway to have back ups posted in the book or something when bad weather or cold temperatures happens? I was wearing a coat and was still freezing, my hands were red and numb when we got in from the shoot (It was a half hour shoot at that). Other then that, everything went well.

This post has been edited by Soldier Saturn: 10 May 2012 - 12:29 AM

[cactusmomma]

Was it a male that was about 5'10", thin, brownish hair, kind of nerdy (says a lot, eh?)? If so, he was my only staffer and was supposed to be there.

Keep the feedback coming! We're compiling everything to be brought up at the staff feedback session.