I've found that the more meetings for other conventions I attend, the more I learn about things I would and wouldn't want to do if I had to organize things. This last weekend was the Fanime Dead Dog, which was nothing more than a barbecue that halfway through had all the senior staff run off to conduct business. I had some very colorful words to describe what it felt like, but the next time Google comes by, I'd rather it not pick them up. The lesson to be learned is that you cannot mix food, fun, and work. For you English majors, one of the words there just doesn't belong. For you meeting planners, you probably already know that you can't add work to food and fun (but you can add food and fun to work). If that sounds a bit odd, let me explain.
Nobody likes to be talked at, let alone down to, and most certainly nobody wants to participate if they feel like their opinions aren't being heard. The same is true of office meetings. Even the most vocal of people fall silent when they discover they are being ignored. To cite the Fanime retreat as an example, the con chair held two separate gripe sessions, one with the general staff, and one with the department heads. Feedback targeted for a specific department never made it there most likely, and the chair even put themselves up on a table over everyone. It may be subtle, but it has an impact. RECCA was almost just as guilty, in the simple since we didn't get the general staff as involved as they should have been. However, by sitting around a table and talking with groups, everyone's comments were heard. In fact, everyone there was forced to have an opinion and talk a bit. There was food, though there wasn't much fun, but most everyone said they felt they accomplished a lot at the meeting. I challenge you to ask that of another staff's dead dog. Now here comes the important part: Other convention staff groups should learn-- try new ideas and hell, steal ours! Take the time to look at what works and doesn't work with your group. Take the time to work with each staffer, even if only for a few minutes so that they feel like they are helping on something big and important. Just take the time to care about every aspect of your convention; care about everything from the big name guests you are bringing all the way down to talking one on one with staff and convention attendees.
At the end of the Masquerade at Fanime, I tried to get to every cosplayer backstage and ask them a few questions about how they felt the night went. From that, we learned the three things next year we have to do even better. The cosplayers don't normally get a chance to voice their opinions about the masquerade, and I hope they understand how much we care about the largest-attended event at FanimeCon. If every staff gave this kind of energy, what a wonderful con it would be!
Two years ago, I saw RECCACon, and I saw where it was going. They were working to be different, to try and stay local, and to do things other conventions had shrugged off or disregarded. Every one of their staff members wants the con to succeed, and every one of their staff members gives their all the 3rd Saturday of March. It is that level of dedication and drive that helped make RECCA so much fun.
Alas, I've wavered a bit from my original point. You learn things from other groups, that is, if you are willing to be open and listen. I've met those who are one or the other, but rarely so I see those who are both. RECCA has learned a lot from Fanime, from Anime Expo, from JTAF, Ani-Magic, PMX, Yaoicon, and Anime Overdose. When something works, we assimilate the idea, and when we think everything is working fine, we try something new. I commend AX for their AX Idol, regardless of its success, because it is so different. I comment Fanime for throwing a music festival at their convention that took the old GakuFest idea in an entirely new direction. And yet, despite all these ideas and creations they have, they still aren't innovating. There is nothing new in the lineup this year for Anime Expo, and there is nothing currently groundbreaking stirring up dust at Fanime. If you want to make things better, you can either do more of the same stuff, or do the same stuff in a different way. And you can (coming back to the first point) make things different by investing that extra bit of energy to care that much more.
Besides, California is too saturated with Anime Cons to hold itself up anymore. We have 9 shows this year in California. I'm able to make six of them, and that's only because 4 of them are local. Economy theory of Supply, Demand, and Value would indicate that we are soon going to be saturated with conventions and everyone is going to start losing out.
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