Alright, I need some advice from gulls. A big con with 10k+ in attendance is trying to make remodel the programs department to create a better experience. What do you want to see more of as far as panels and events that staff can actually control?
Less Ask-A-Character panels. More panels about cosplay and crafting. Panels about con culture (running AA tables, what it takes to run a con, hotel living hacks, etc). Workshops with a minimal materials fee to actually work on something. Academic programming. Cool shows besides the masq (favorite local con does nerdy bellydancing).
>>8879381
I fucking knew in the tiny catalog photo that the photo on the right was from Matilda...
Maid cafes can be fun but it gets depressing fast if the only food you can serve is warm Cokes, Costco cake and bottled water oh sorry we're all out of bottled water.
Also I know space can be limiting but back to the maid cafe I went to a con where the cafe was just a roped off area in the huge games/artist alley/ rock band stage area and it was just a weird loud mess. It could have just as easily been in panel room or maybe an alcove in the hall.
"Iron Cosplay" or "Chopped Cosplay" challenges can be fun though staff and volunteers need to compile scrap materials to keep costs down.
Also shitty prizes for game show events are shitty. No one wants random volume 14 of Firefighter or Full Moon wo Sagashite or Blu Ray volume 5 of Persona 4. Have people from the Artist alley or Dealers room donate at least one item and allow them to include business cards or what not. Or a system where people can win credits for the Dealers room/AA or con branded merch. Though that being said don't give people 3XL con shirts from 2011.
Don't Jew out of people who are running panels give them a reasonable exchange for their service. Don't make them run 12 hours of panels for a full reimbursement and maybe a shirt if you ask nice then take 8months to get it to them.
I've always wanted to do a crafting panel contest type thing. Like have people sign up in groups to join, and provide a shitton of newspaper, cardboard, and tape. At the beginning of the pannel, announce whatever series/show it is and then throw a bunch of character photos up on the screen and the contestants have to pick a character and make a shitty costume for it out of the materials. Like, it's not supposed to look legit, but see what the groups come up with and do sports commentor narration the whole time. And let the audience judge who won in the end.
I always thought that would be fun.
Oh ask panels are already heavily limited. What about the way the schedule is set up? How do you guys feel about having short 15 minute breaks between each panel to help with lines and seating? Do you like rooms set up a certain way?
Give people a good motivation to run a panel and make the information on how to run a panel easy-to-find and accessible to everyone. Keep material relevant. Don't be afraid to say "no". Don't have asshole/bitch staff who think they're special snowflakes because they help out at a nerd convention. Eliminate "ask a..." panels because they're usually very poorly done. Ask the fans what THEY want. Very simple things to look into, but many cons don't follow it and end up with shitty programming.
>>8879770
I've done this for years as a five minute segment of a fandom gameshow hour and it always goes down really well.
We had two creators/one model on each team, and each team had a different reference image in their bag of supplies. We showed the audience a video for the first three minutes (not much to watch until people start getting things on their models), then started commentating & got the audience to guess the characters for the last two minutes. It was a hoot - highlight characters were nyan cat, Darth Vader, Sora (KH), Naruto, Summoner Yuna, Batman and Link. It helps to pick characters with really recognisable accessories & hair - hard to replicate items of clothing in newspaper. (That said I was super impressed with the Summoner Yuna team who did manage to do the clothes as well as the staff!)
>>8879419
Every single maid cafe I've been to has been a disappointment. Last one I went to was sharing the same cafeteria that was available to the rest of the attendees, so there was constant miscommunication. The food took too long, the maid cafe stole orders intended for the normal attendees, people were waiting around for half an hour before being told their order had been lost and they'd run out of ingredients, and the cafe spent most of their time awkwardly distracting people through lazy dance routines.
>>8879987
The 15 minute break would be helpful, especially for people who want to attend two panels in the same room after one another.
I can't think of any other particular way to set up the room, but if you can put the front table in a soft v shape that helps panellists speak to each other. Being on a straight line can be a little tricky when you want to look across at someone or signal them or whatever.
>>8879381
I'd like to see a big con with 10k+ in attendance figure it out themselves, how do you get to this point and still be clueless?
>>8880175
Shit, I forgot that attendees don't have opinions.
>>8880175
Wow it's almost like having execs who want to hear what the general population wants to see is a good thing.
Emptying the room between each panel. For example, I hate not being able to get a seat to a panel at 12am because some fuck has been there since 6am in order to get a seat for a panel at 7pm.
Seconding academic programming, told by people actually knowledgeable in the subject.
Taking notes for my convention. Please continue.
Bump for more feedback plz.
Ban the cancerous ask panels. So all of them.
Mod is obviously a racist. Can't handle the facts that diversity panels are just blacks whining about "opression" sessions.
>>8880406
Fucking this. At Anime Boston a few years ago they had the Attack on Titan dub premier and even had a room clear on the schedule for the event right before it (a Jam Project panel if I remember correctly) and literally 80% of the room didn't leave. They only went to the Jam Project thing because they didn't want to wait in line and that fucked over the people who did wait. I only got in because of my press pass but still.
Send out your panel acceptances earlier.
I know that fan panels are below guest panels on the priority list. But here's the thing. Say you have 20 rooms. You know that 5 of them will be used by confirmed industry guests at X time, 3 of them will be showing anime at X time. 2 of them are up in the air because certain industry guests are waffling on their availability. So you have 10 or 12 rooms for panels, depending on the industry guest.
Say you have a pool of 30 potential panels for that time slot. Send 10 of them their acceptances promptly, not two weeks before the con. Send 2 of them "Sorry to keep you waiting, but we're so-so on your panel and are waiting to hear back from an industry guest." Send the rest of them rejections.
That minimizes the number of people who find out that they're running a panel two weeks before a con.
Don't pretend your con is in a vacuum. Go to other conventions within driving distance and check out fan panels. If you see something that your convention doesn't have, approach them and let them know who you are, give them a card, and let them know when panels open up. Don't let your programming get too incestuous.
Open up your fan panels six months out, do the primary acceptances two months out, and do the final acceptances (and wait list) six weeks out, with the hope to have a final schedule no more than a month out.
Utilize your room configurations. If you know your largest room that isn't main events only holds 150 people but know that a fan panel is going to be really popular, make sure there's at least a half hour setup window before it so you can clear the room and deal with seating with a minimum of "linecon" hassle.
Keep your headlining guests in main events. Your A-list voice actors and most popular internet celebrities will probably fill more seats than your #2 panel room. Your B-list voice actors and lesser-tier guests are probably fine in smaller panel rooms. This gives you more working space in your main events for setup time and seating concerns.
You will make mistakes. Don't make them multiple years in a row and learn from your experience.
Try not to put two of the same type of panel on the schedule at the same time. If someone wants to come to a cosplay panel, they will likely want to go to more than one; making them choose between two will result in smaller attendance for each one.
Have VGA, HDMI and Mac options available at all times and expect that despite their best intentions, panelists will sometimes not have the right equipment for the room. Have roaming programming staff check in within the first ten minutes of each panel's start time ensuring they have what they need. Have at least one roamer per two panel rooms if you can, and have them check back in with programming ops after doing their roam so that everyone is on the same page.
>>8882855
Excellent points, that's the advice I like.
>>8883129
Thanks, anon! I've been in the OP's shoes before so try to convey what I learned over the years.
