/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

>>8050078
sigh
Ray and I went to Japan for our honeymoon and when to Project Anime because we were invited and it was running while we were there. We met a bunch of Japanese industry guests, one of which was the WCS Japan branch. We have been wanting more for our cosplay con-goers to be able to take part in and things they might like so we decided to approach the WCS US branch (thats how they work, the cons have to approach them, they dont approach anyone).
And we...are just going to see how well this turns out...

It was 90% last year too (I'm pretty sure..it was supposed to be). I'm going to be honest, no one actually walks in with a 90% hand made cosplay. We mainly say 90% to keep people who just straight up buy their cosplays from trying to enter and to keep the amount of entrants to people who actually made the majority of their cosplays...it doesnt really work. You have to have made AT LEAST 70-80% of your cosplay to place (this doesnt include shoes, socks or wigs, but making socks, styling wigs and altering shoes and making boot covers gives you an extra boost) and from there its who's craftmanship was the best.

I will also warn you that we're re-doing the way the contest is run and such this year to try to make it more fair for people who really want to enter and to make it a little more streamlined (I hope..we will see)/

haha, thank you for the compliment, we try.

>>8050045
they dont ask to host anything, cons have to approach them...and that is a mistake

>>8050017
it was opened for a while last year as a 'test' and they ended up having to stay open way later than they planned because of the amount of business they did.
I believe they plan to open again for longer this year, but I'm not 100%. We are about to start having meetings at the BJCC to see what we can do this year. I want those food places open too

fun story about that subway, the first year we moved to the BJCC, one of my staff members called that subway to warn them to stock up and was yelled at by that subway's manager because "they are used to BJCC crowds, they know what they're doing"

...they are used to middle aged women and families, but 500o con-goers who are trying to save money and eat quickly. They ran out of food 3 times. I think they've gotten their stuff together since that year...

Kami-Con thread?! That I didn't have to start?!

>>8049425
I just checked and we dont have any panel submissions about a Lolita Tea
We have one for a possible fashion show/social, but no teas.
We also don't have any lolitas on staff, so they only lolita panels would be from lolitas who submitted a panel request (which are still open for another week)

Also, as for no teas At the BJCC, when we first moved to the BJCC they were very strict about outside food and such (and still are), but there is a possible way around that as long as no money is being passed

>>7520262
*her friend! not fried

>>7509428
Ah, no, sorry to worry you!
That was because there was a camera crew filming a young girl and her fried. For a nickelodeon documentary about kids finding their 'niche' (in this case, cosplay)
They filmed pre-judging for the girls and the cosplay contest, but I think that was mainly it. (To my understanding) though they may have filmed them waiting to come into the pre-judging room.

>cosplay and/or lolita?
cosplay
>a/s/l
24 / F / Alabama
>other interests/hobbies?
video games, sewing, reading, tumblr
>other info
I'm the Co-ConChair of Kami-Con in Birmingham, AL and the Mississippi Anime Invasion (M.A.I. Con) in Oxford, MS.
My Soon-to-be-husband has been having fun playing Idol Master with my cosplay personality lately.
I'm super excited that we will be hosting the first ever Cowboy Bebop cast reunion at Kami this year. Shamelessly plugging my con? Why, yes I am.

Also, I have yet to be able to buy a box of Count Chocula cereal this year and its making me uber sad.

>>7104422
I am co-owner. putting it on a home game will kill us, so you won't have to worry about that.

Official numbers are currently 455. So not at all bad for first year ( kami had 460 and was free). I am happy with the turnout, I know a lot of staff enjoyed themselves and I hope the con goers did too!

I'd be more hyped if I could stop realizing how many cosplay related things I left back in tuscaloosa, hahahaaaa....

But I am looking forward to tomorrow, should be a good show!

>mfw I found this thread

>>6925691
Just apologize and trade out the staff member with someone else. Most guests are fine with whoever so they won't care if you need to switch them out for some reason.

Happy to help

>>6924044
that sucks, I'm sorry man.

>>6925026
We haven't had any unruly guests. What kind of problems did they create?
Our guest relations team works like this: Each guest (or each group/couple when it's married or groups) have a staff member assigned to them. The staff member has their guest's schedules for the weekend and are 'on-call' 24/7. They stay with the guest all day until the guest go to their room for sleep, and are available 'after-hours' by phone call.
We tend to go above and beyond according to most other cons.

the biggest problem we have had has been when a group who was going something involving alcohol had a guest relations girl who was under 21, and therefore could not get them what they needed. We just had to grab another staffer to get it, but I felt so bad. I didn't even think about how some of them might be younger, haha.

>>6923444
We ran into him at awa and proclaimed we'd have him at our con eventually, to which he replied "I don't see why I can't just come this year." Then we messages him and flew him in. He's super nice.

Ouch, that's not a lot of time for a starting con. We made a university club for our staff, after you can make a FB page and post fliers around your uni.

Do you have a club day? We're you set up a table do freshmen can sign up for clubs? If so, sign up your club for that table and recruit (I've graduated, but the club is on going and I don cosplays to help draw attention). If your uni has an anime or Japan club, try to recruit there as well

I think it really depends. Ray and i generally spend almost the entire con running a fan table (which I find a lot of fun), at cons were we don't get a table we hang out with friends, cosplay, meet and talk to ppl, shop, and go to a handful of panels.

I will say we pay more attention to how things are run or handled so we can learn for our own con, but we still enjoy ourselves. If we want to have a few drinks with our friends we do

Also, don't be a dick. There is no reason to try to screw other cons, your guests, or your con goers over.
(Don't be a dick is a staff/club motto for us)

>>6921523
re-read this and thought it seemed kinda negative sounding. Not my intention.
Using Kami-Con as a template, we had Mandy Clarke as out main guests and got 460 people. Mostly from the area. This is what you should shoot for first year. Try to get your area to come (not as easy as it seems).

since first year we've had larger and more guests and see continued growth.

That said, we work crazy hard to bring a great show with many fun events. Really, you need to figure out what your area likes and cater to it.

>>6920962
I have to slightly disagree.
Yes you need people to run your sections, but from experience I can promise you con-goers care about voice actors. Every year (even with our new con MAI) we get requests where someone will be asking us to bring 5+ voice actors. VA's bring numbers to your con. For first year cons get small VAs, you don't want to be overwhelmed and unable to afford anything because you brought someone huge.

Also, depending on the VA you can make a deal where if they make their appearance fee through autograph signing, you don't have to pay them. They keep all the money they make, and if they dont make enough, you pay the difference.

Also organize. everything. have plans on how to run things smoothly. Registration is super important and I feel like a lot of people don't give a thought to it.

>>6920196
Have a good start up budget. And be prepared to NOT break even. Cons don't make money right out the door, it's takes a bit. Get a good dedicated staff and find a venue that will work with you, not against you. Start with cheaper guests and probably only invite one at first. Think of events and how to make it fun for con goers. Look at other cons and see what they are doing. What do you like,Mehta do you think doesn't work and how do you fix it, etc.

Really can't stress the money thing enough tho. A lot of cons start off thinking, "cons are a great way to make money, and friendship will keep it alive."
Not true. First few years are money black holes and it takes a lot of hard, dedicated work. It's stressful, but it gets better the more experienced you get.

You should try working or volunteering at some cons before jumping right to creating your own so you can get a feel for it.

>>6915592
ah okay, we have department leaders and they recruit people for their department. In most cases a person can be in multiple departments.
People in guest relations can only be in guest relations since their job id from the time the guests plane arrive until it takes off again.

Sure, no problem!

>>6915555
we went to another con that wasn't...as neatly run as it could be. Ray literally said: "I could do a better one...I'm going to make a better one."
and then he did. and now it's a business.

>>6915552
well Kami and MAI are staffed by college club members and alumni. The way we work is we have head staff members who come to club meetings and many are division leaders,

and then we have regular staff that get brought in to work different areas such as security, info desk, registration, etc. under the leader.

We use volunteers as gophers.

we do things differently then other cons in the SE (not bragging, a lot of cons here like having conchair meetings and we learned very early that most cons' staff are vertically integrated while we are very much horizontally integrated.)
If you start off as a gopher and do a really great job, you can move up in staffing positions as positions open.

What exactly do you mean by 'particulars'?

for us, judges volunteer. We run with a very small staff, so people only volunteer if they know they can spend 5 or so hours for pre-judging and contest on Sat.

Kami-Con and M.A.I. Con co ConChair here. What's up?

Kami-COn thread! What you like, what you didn't like, what you want changed, what you want to stay!

Also, pictures.

I'll start:
THE RAVE: almost broke the BJCC. While the floor was meant to bend some, it was not meant to bounce like a trampoline. In fact, doors were opening, projector screens were shaking and a light fixture fell ALL ON THE 1ST FLOOR!
you guys were rocking the house down, haha.

THE FIX: we will be renting an exhibition hall next year (one right beside our area), the floor is concrete and nothing is under it so you guys can jump allllllllll you want.

FOOD: these were food places around, you just had to find them all...and some ran out of food coughSubwaycough

THE FIX: our BJCC coordinator will be attempting to open concessions next year. We will also be getting in contact with more food trucks earlier so that they have time to get the proper permission and paper work filled in order to be on BJCC grounds.