back from AWA 18
Oct. 2nd, 2012 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davemerrilljeez, been 18 years of these things. The con went really well. I mean, no ambulance calls, no flipouts, people were generally well behaved. Staff was on top of things and performing at top capacity. Guests and panellists had a lot of fun and seemed to enjoy themselves. Bought a little stuff in the dealers room, got to see a lot of friends and catch up, held a few panels that seemed to go well. We may have reached that happy medium between "horrifying disaster" and "transcendentally awesome life-altering experience" - the highs might not have been as mind blowing but the lows weren't as depth-dredgingly low.
for me personally I flew into Atlanta on Wednesday night and got to spend the night at my folks, catching up on family news and enjoying the new shed in the back yard.
Thursday I borrowed the family van and did a little pre-con shopping, picked up Gavigan at the airport, and visited the site of AWA 7 and 8, which is still a Sheraton attached to a convention center. The convention center is now totally empty and OFF LIMITS.
We hustled it back up to civilization and got settled just in time for me to get cracking on the SUPER HAPPY FUN SELL, the yard sale event. We had sold every table before the show, but that didn't stop a few very persistent people from deciding they could haul all their junk to AWA and just be handed a table. "I was told there would be tables for walk-ins." Not by me, you weren't.
Of course we did have some no-shows, so eventually everybody got to sit down and sell their junk. The SHFS setup might have been the most frustrating part of the show for me, if only because of the no-shows, the people insisting I give them a table, the people who were told they had a table when they did not, etc. Next year there will be some changes.
Then I went and did Old School Classroom for a while, screening MAKEN LINER 0011 and some of the Unico pilot film and the World Of Leiji Matsumoto and SUE CAT, all about an idol singing cat. Then it was bedtime.
Friday, we had a pre-show panellists orientation meeting at 11, which is a fantastic idea that I wish I'd come up with 18 years ago. Then it was time for Opening Ceremonies. Here's Lloyd and Stan working the crowd.
Then I went off and did a panel about Prince Planet, sat in on Fred Schodt's panel, had some lunch, wandered the show, bought some junk, saw some friends, had dinner at Maggianos with CB and Elizabeth and Parker.
On the way out to dinner we passed the Formal Ball, which is run by my brother Jason who's the events director. It's a formal ball, you need to be in formalwear. Fans being who fans are this means Jason spends the entire year explaining to people what 'formal' means, and wasting his time listening to the idiotic debating strategies of time-wasting morons who feel that the Rules Do Not Apply To Me I Am A Special Snowflake My Mommy Said So. Two of these goof-balls were attempting to talk their way into the formal ball dressed as Thing One and Thing Two. You know, from that well known Japanese anime manga artist Dr. Seuss. They were wearing nice jackets, but also red tights and Chuck Taylor sneakers. Jason was getting all het up so I stepped in and let them work their rhetorical magic on me, which consisted of them explaining that some other people were getting into the ball dressed less than formally (we're not talking about them, we're talking about you), how they could put on nicer pants (then go and do so, why don't you) and how they could put on dress shoes (if you had done so, we wouldn't be having this conversation)and where do we go to get our refunds (the table with the cash box on it, stupid). Seriously, these weren't even clean sneakers. "You're really hung up on the shoes!" one said. Well, basketball shoes are a deal-killer when it comes to a formal dance. Even *I* know that, and I wear shorts half the year and most of my wardrobe is T-shirts with Rory Hayes drawings or cereal box characters.
I heard later they lodged a complaint against us with some kind of AWA complaint-lodging organization I was previously unaware of. Lodging a complaint against the Merrill boys at AWA? Good luck with that one guys.
ANYWAYS we had some dinner and then it was time for Hell. I ran a bunch of old clips and new clips and people seemed to like it. I dunno, I got lots of compliments, I guess I'm doing something right. Ryan cranked up Midnight Madness, I retreated to Carl Horn's party for some post Hell libations, and got to bed at, I dunno, 3?
Saturday I did Greggo's Anime Match Game in the Betty White seat next to Vic. I haven't done one of these game shows in a long time, but I managed to come up with some amusing stuff to make the audience laugh and I was instrumental in allowing our final contestant to get some decent prizes. I hitched a ride with Rich Anderson to the Vortex down in Little Five Points to get a burger and reminisce about my youthful days buying REM LPs in Wax 'N' Facts. We got back to the con in time for me and Drew and Richard H. to do the Kokusai Eiga panel, which went well in spite of technical issues. Then it was time for the old peoples party up in the old peoples suite for the old peoples.
I'm of two minds about this. I like having a private party up away from the hubbub, but at the same time I feel really cut off from the rest of the show, at a crucial Saturday night time when people should be milling around and socializing in a larger pool than the pool we have to swim in, in a small hotel room. I am kicking around the idea of getting a Waverly function room, having the hotel set up a cash bar and some snacks, and having a reception/party for the over-21 set where the over-21 set can find it, open to anybody who can prove they're over 21. In conversations with AWA attendees over the weekend I did hear from people who would like something of this nature - one guy visited the Bebop Lounge and was disappointed that he couldn't get anything stronger than coffee.
The benefits of having a Waverly cash-bar event are that we could set up a sound system and have somebody DJ old school music, we could have a screen and be showing old videos and images, it would be someplace people could wander into, have a drink, wander out of to experience the rest of the con, wander back into.
Anyway it's just an idea at this stage. Stay tuned.
Speaking of events, Ed did the karaoke out in the food court of the Galleria and it seemed like a good use of the space. The food court is surrounded by CGCC function space on the upper level, giving performers a balcony to play to.
I did the Atlanta Anime Con Roundtable panel on Sunday at noon, at 3 I did the Tezuka panel, at 5 we did closing ceremonies, and at 6:30 Jason and I were on our way to Scalini's for the post-con dose of garlic and family. We spent the rest of the evening putting the con to bed and watching crazy videos on Neil's little media computer. Monday AM I got up later than expected, packed, got downstairs, said bye to the people I could find, and before I knew it I was at the airport. The flight was a little bumpy, but I finally made it home to Toronto, and now I'm sitting here typing this.
This year I got to reconnect with a lot of people I hadn't seen in years and years - Meri Davis from A-Kon, Jeff Bullock, Jay Finch - and catch up with locals whom I see more regularly, and make some new friends, and spend more time talking to people whom I only spend a little time talking to. Got to see a lot of babies and toddlers and teenagers, got to see some folks from my generation who are dealing with health issues and life issues, we got to do some events that I think went beyond just stupid cartoons and managed to make a difference in people's lives. That's a bonus, I think. Usually I get done with a convention and I feel wiped out and exhausted, but this is one of those years where instead my head is filled with plans for next year. I guess that means it was a good show.
for me personally I flew into Atlanta on Wednesday night and got to spend the night at my folks, catching up on family news and enjoying the new shed in the back yard.
Thursday I borrowed the family van and did a little pre-con shopping, picked up Gavigan at the airport, and visited the site of AWA 7 and 8, which is still a Sheraton attached to a convention center. The convention center is now totally empty and OFF LIMITS.
We hustled it back up to civilization and got settled just in time for me to get cracking on the SUPER HAPPY FUN SELL, the yard sale event. We had sold every table before the show, but that didn't stop a few very persistent people from deciding they could haul all their junk to AWA and just be handed a table. "I was told there would be tables for walk-ins." Not by me, you weren't.
Of course we did have some no-shows, so eventually everybody got to sit down and sell their junk. The SHFS setup might have been the most frustrating part of the show for me, if only because of the no-shows, the people insisting I give them a table, the people who were told they had a table when they did not, etc. Next year there will be some changes.
Then I went and did Old School Classroom for a while, screening MAKEN LINER 0011 and some of the Unico pilot film and the World Of Leiji Matsumoto and SUE CAT, all about an idol singing cat. Then it was bedtime.
Friday, we had a pre-show panellists orientation meeting at 11, which is a fantastic idea that I wish I'd come up with 18 years ago. Then it was time for Opening Ceremonies. Here's Lloyd and Stan working the crowd.
Then I went off and did a panel about Prince Planet, sat in on Fred Schodt's panel, had some lunch, wandered the show, bought some junk, saw some friends, had dinner at Maggianos with CB and Elizabeth and Parker.
On the way out to dinner we passed the Formal Ball, which is run by my brother Jason who's the events director. It's a formal ball, you need to be in formalwear. Fans being who fans are this means Jason spends the entire year explaining to people what 'formal' means, and wasting his time listening to the idiotic debating strategies of time-wasting morons who feel that the Rules Do Not Apply To Me I Am A Special Snowflake My Mommy Said So. Two of these goof-balls were attempting to talk their way into the formal ball dressed as Thing One and Thing Two. You know, from that well known Japanese anime manga artist Dr. Seuss. They were wearing nice jackets, but also red tights and Chuck Taylor sneakers. Jason was getting all het up so I stepped in and let them work their rhetorical magic on me, which consisted of them explaining that some other people were getting into the ball dressed less than formally (we're not talking about them, we're talking about you), how they could put on nicer pants (then go and do so, why don't you) and how they could put on dress shoes (if you had done so, we wouldn't be having this conversation)and where do we go to get our refunds (the table with the cash box on it, stupid). Seriously, these weren't even clean sneakers. "You're really hung up on the shoes!" one said. Well, basketball shoes are a deal-killer when it comes to a formal dance. Even *I* know that, and I wear shorts half the year and most of my wardrobe is T-shirts with Rory Hayes drawings or cereal box characters.
I heard later they lodged a complaint against us with some kind of AWA complaint-lodging organization I was previously unaware of. Lodging a complaint against the Merrill boys at AWA? Good luck with that one guys.
ANYWAYS we had some dinner and then it was time for Hell. I ran a bunch of old clips and new clips and people seemed to like it. I dunno, I got lots of compliments, I guess I'm doing something right. Ryan cranked up Midnight Madness, I retreated to Carl Horn's party for some post Hell libations, and got to bed at, I dunno, 3?
Saturday I did Greggo's Anime Match Game in the Betty White seat next to Vic. I haven't done one of these game shows in a long time, but I managed to come up with some amusing stuff to make the audience laugh and I was instrumental in allowing our final contestant to get some decent prizes. I hitched a ride with Rich Anderson to the Vortex down in Little Five Points to get a burger and reminisce about my youthful days buying REM LPs in Wax 'N' Facts. We got back to the con in time for me and Drew and Richard H. to do the Kokusai Eiga panel, which went well in spite of technical issues. Then it was time for the old peoples party up in the old peoples suite for the old peoples.
I'm of two minds about this. I like having a private party up away from the hubbub, but at the same time I feel really cut off from the rest of the show, at a crucial Saturday night time when people should be milling around and socializing in a larger pool than the pool we have to swim in, in a small hotel room. I am kicking around the idea of getting a Waverly function room, having the hotel set up a cash bar and some snacks, and having a reception/party for the over-21 set where the over-21 set can find it, open to anybody who can prove they're over 21. In conversations with AWA attendees over the weekend I did hear from people who would like something of this nature - one guy visited the Bebop Lounge and was disappointed that he couldn't get anything stronger than coffee.
The benefits of having a Waverly cash-bar event are that we could set up a sound system and have somebody DJ old school music, we could have a screen and be showing old videos and images, it would be someplace people could wander into, have a drink, wander out of to experience the rest of the con, wander back into.
Anyway it's just an idea at this stage. Stay tuned.
Speaking of events, Ed did the karaoke out in the food court of the Galleria and it seemed like a good use of the space. The food court is surrounded by CGCC function space on the upper level, giving performers a balcony to play to.
I did the Atlanta Anime Con Roundtable panel on Sunday at noon, at 3 I did the Tezuka panel, at 5 we did closing ceremonies, and at 6:30 Jason and I were on our way to Scalini's for the post-con dose of garlic and family. We spent the rest of the evening putting the con to bed and watching crazy videos on Neil's little media computer. Monday AM I got up later than expected, packed, got downstairs, said bye to the people I could find, and before I knew it I was at the airport. The flight was a little bumpy, but I finally made it home to Toronto, and now I'm sitting here typing this.
This year I got to reconnect with a lot of people I hadn't seen in years and years - Meri Davis from A-Kon, Jeff Bullock, Jay Finch - and catch up with locals whom I see more regularly, and make some new friends, and spend more time talking to people whom I only spend a little time talking to. Got to see a lot of babies and toddlers and teenagers, got to see some folks from my generation who are dealing with health issues and life issues, we got to do some events that I think went beyond just stupid cartoons and managed to make a difference in people's lives. That's a bonus, I think. Usually I get done with a convention and I feel wiped out and exhausted, but this is one of those years where instead my head is filled with plans for next year. I guess that means it was a good show.
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 05:52 pm (UTC)So, that party thing. I'm not so sure it's a good idea, setting up a cash bar in hotel function space. See, I know what you're really trying to create, I'm in your head!
You want to recreate the cool fun of that hole-in-the-wall Otaku bar you and Shain visited in Japan. Yes you do. I see it plain as day. :)
Won't work. Cultural differences, location/patron differences.
A small bar that caters to a specific personality can work, but you try and do that in entitlement mentality special snowflake con world? Oy, such a disaster I can see. Picture your story about Jason's dance, times 10, plus booze.
Not to mention that con life doesn't call for PAYING for booze. Good Lord man! Most cash bars I recall from my con days had free soda, and that would get all the play. Hotel would feel let down they didn't make $$$.
I think, just thinking out loud, that private parties are still the best way to go for the kind of environment you seek to create. More people always means more asshats.
After all, there's nothing keeping people from going to that nice little bar in the hotel and getting their load on. I had some good conversations there last year, and the hostess was into the con which was fun to see. Of course, doing that officially makes AWA into Worldcon... :)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 09:15 pm (UTC)There are a ton of people at AWA that are not going to make it to a private party up on the 11th floor because it's Saturday night and they're down on the convention floor enjoying the convention; the time investment in making their way up the elevators and back down again is considerable. Additionally, I can't get invites to everybody I'd like to get invites to; it's a big show and we don't get to all of it.
Those are people I'm not going to get to see, and I'd like to see those people. It has benefits for me in that I no longer have to haul food and drink into the hotel, or stand around at 9pm waiting for people to show up, or clean up afterwards, or be stuck on the 11th floor all night. It would also give the AWA staffers a chance to drop in and socialize with some of their guests and friends whom they might not see. We had Dfest down on the convention floor in one of the function rooms in I wanna say 2008 or 2009 and it went pretty well even as a non-Waverly-sanctioned event with a fake Waverly sign on the door. It could happen again very easily.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 09:26 pm (UTC)It's too bad the hotel can't add elevators but on a cost/benefit basis I can see there's no value to it. And they'd still be clogged.
Well, how about this as a filter? Cover charge. With maybe some kind of free pass deal if you have a special sticker or handstamp or are waved in by Da Boss? First drink is free then, or something.
Being asked to pony up 5 bones to get in the door will surely buzzkill the heck out of the special snowflakes.
Why am I talking about this? I'm crazy. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 09:47 pm (UTC)From the discussions I had at the show this year, I think it would be welcomed. Certainly I'd feel like I was doing something to benefit the convention at large on Saturday nights, rather than sequestering myself into a corner.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 09:49 pm (UTC)I went to a couple of events at this year's Dragoncon run exactly in this fashion, and they went just fine as far as I can see. Hotel supplied a bar and a guy at the door to check IDs, the party organizers had a deejay and a projector, folks walked in and got a drink and milled around and had a nice time. Just make sure you've got the right size room and you should have a fun event there. Call it something like SPEAKEASY Z and project old '70s super robot shows on the walls.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 10:23 pm (UTC)Oh yeah, we'd want some peanuts.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 11:22 pm (UTC)noshables are always a good idea. I happen to think non-buttered popcorn makes people happy because it's warm. Having a little *something* to nibble on can be some kind of a base so as folk don't get plastered too fast.
It would be nice if 'we' could provide the fodder so we don't get the cheap-ass overpriced stuff hotels usually provide. I never liked paying $15 for the box of chips (that was already opened and partially used for a previous function) and have had a bad attitude about such things ever since. Chances are outside product would not be allowed if the hotel is doing all the service.
Mmm. popcorn. Man, there was a bar/grille here, part of the Holiday Inn franchise called Holly's By Gollys, they used to have tasty food, and they had fresh pop popcorn as their table munchies. Just go up to the machine and get more if your bowl was empty. good times.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 03:56 am (UTC)But I can see both sides to this.
I had fun setting up the party last year. So if I make it next year I'd be glad to help out with whichever party method is used.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 10:58 pm (UTC)Not sure what to make of the petition mindset .I did know someone tried to stir up drama about the Super Happy Fun Sale (and not getting a table when it was sold out) on FB but people kind of told him to shut up. Then someone apparently tried to start trouble in the alley too and all about something silly like not knowing the opening hours.
Things like this make me wonder sometimes about where the fandom is going.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 11:49 pm (UTC)The SHFS business was super annoying. So many people, so much failure to read basic instructions. I barely read the AWA FB.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:06 am (UTC)And yeah - the stuff about SFHS was just dumb. This guy tried to argue his way in and was more complaining that he was told firmly NO. In all seriousness, most of the FB folks rolled their eyes.
But the AWA FB is unofficial anyways and full of a lot of spammage. I can't read it now for it's full of everyone asking for cosplay pics of themselves. A lot of these posts are ridiculous like "I was the brown haired Sailor Scout"... it's incredibly narcissistic to think that you were the only cosplayer who cosplayed a popular character and that people will remember you AND post a picture.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:41 am (UTC)Like any tool, with proper use they both can be very useful, the potential is incredible. But it's not about 'you', the responsible user. It's about ALL THOSE OTHER IDIOTS, the 'special snowflake' generation.
"what man creates, man corrupts". It's an all-too observable fact.
I was thinking that it would be cool if AWA were to simulcast panels over FB and archive them, but then I started thinking about the insane cost of I.T. infrastructure and bandwidth, the con being held responsible for something stupid said or done, and someone deciding to 'game the system' in some way with a panel designed solely to get hits and friends on FB...and I threw that thought away.
might say I THREW IT ON THE GROUND! :)
(what? The Lonely Island is so 2010? dammit. )
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:57 am (UTC)FB fanGroups are all about "SHOW ME ME" pretty much post-con, but generally before the con are ignored except by the people planning things like cosplay meetups and such. It's usually tolerable pre-con.
The post convention spammage might be mitigated with the setup of two groups -- one clearly for cosplay pics and the crazy stuff and the other for questions to con peeps. That said, if you run an official FB/Twitter/Tumblr or anything you need to let it be managed by an active team that has a cool temper, will monitor the group, and set policies/tone in place. That's a lot of work.
Twitter isn't as much of a problem because you own your identity and the worst that happens is you have silliness being tweeted at you. Twitter, however, works best alongside blog posts and announcements. And honestly twitter isn't as popular among the regular congoers as it is amongst artists and creators...
I do think there's untapped potential for AWA AA to do more with the FB account since that won't rely on having one person doing the work. (I suggested writing posts about artists or the alley, and sharing them broadly across the unofficial groups. IT's kind of taking the newsletter idea and allowing it to exist on several different platforms.)
And I forgot to mention, though, that one thing that would be good is to make sure it's clear that unofficial groups are labeled as unofficial. People are really not attentive. They think that just because something reads "AWA group" on FB that it's run by staff. IT's kind of dangerous because people get all hissy about questions not being answered. SEveral of us old-timers and some staff do remind people to go to the forums for stuff fairly regularly, but people still don't get it.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 01:46 am (UTC)Back in the day, what I wanted to do, when AWA and NDK were happening at the same time, was to set up a computer with an internet connection, a monitor, and a camera, and some kind of web video casting software, so that people at AWA could see what was going on at NDK, and vice versa. Back in 2000 or whenever it would have been doable but technically a pain. Nowadays you could do it with stuff you bought at thrift stores and Big Lots.
What's going on with the AWA FB is the same thing that went on with the AWA LJ and the AWA message board - people get all excited and start to use it like they own it. It'll get stepped on at FB like it got stepped on everywhere else. People will read something on the FB and assume it's true and have one rude awakening too many.
Hell, you don't even have to have computers for that. AWA has had people just MAKE THEIR OWN FLYERS to advertise the convention, and by God they want to know the reason they shouldn't! Not the only convention it's happened to, either. Everybody wants to get into the act.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:49 am (UTC)This year seemed to be the year that I dealt with people who simply believed they could argue me out of a decision that was made weeks prior. One guy started off by saying that it was clear we had fewer tables this year (we actually had more tables, duh) and that of course he was told there would be tables set aside for last minute walk-ins. I don't know who told him that, but they were lying. I think it's one of those deals where they just keep repeating their story until they hope we get tired of hearing it and give in. Except I can't give in. I have no tables to give him. They have all been bought and paid for. I will not exert myself or my staff or the Waverly staff to jam more tables into the room, on a Thursday night when we're supposed to be setting up the entire rest of AWA. Poor planning on his part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
I guess we COULD set aside a few tables for last minute walk ins. But why bother? I'd rather sell them weeks ahead of time and not have to deal with people who can't be arsed to plan ahead. Plan ahead, idiots. Take five minutes out of your no-doubt busy schedule and reserve a SHFS table when they go on sale in May.
One person came in with a big story about how their friend (again with the "friends" wanted to get a table, but couldn't do this, and they couldn't do that, and the website wouldn't let them register in time, and I'm like, all of that is beyond my power to change in any way.
Gonna write out some VERY CLEAR rules for 2013.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 01:07 am (UTC)I think it's fine to say "tables will be pre-sold" as much as you can message. Any wiggle room in the message and people will hear what they want to hear, not what makes sense.
That said, even if you tell them tables will be pre-sold someone will always show up and try to argue that a table should exist because that's the way they think.
Since I missed out this year on the party, I will try to find you at SFHS first before I go setup in the AA. This year was hectic. All my art table partners bailed so I was imprisoned behind the table for two days D:.
I'll let Lewis know you tried to find him too. Will grab him on email.