Dallas: Texas
by Vihn-Luan Luu
Celebrating its sweet sixteen, Project A-Kon once again moved into the Adam’s Mark for its three days and two nights of Japanese culture. Though lauded as the third biggest anime convention in the nation, sometimes A-Kon seems to be a major player in the minor leagues. With a long-standing tradition of convention experience, A-Kon appears to be a static entity and is fighting evolution to accommodate the growing anime scene. As a first or second time experience, A-Kon is fresh and new. After attending several years, one can obviously see the slow downslide.
Guest ListA-Kon this year was able to pull itself out of the rut of having stale and predictable guest list -- a problem it’s had in the past. Granted, with the size of the domestic anime industry and 16 years of conventions, it’s hard to get new names for a fresh guest list every year. Last year, their only Japanese guests were the J-Poppers, which is a disappointment to those who go for the Japanese anime/manga scene rather than the J-Pop scene. This year, they were able to acquire several Japanese guests, ranging from film production (Yasufumi Soejima, Masao Maruyama) to artist (Takahiro Umehara) to a Tokyo Eurobeat DJ (DJ Boss). They also expanded their guest list with a few tabletop game guests (Michael Pondsmith) and video game guest (Red VS Blue, Terminal Reality, Obsidian Entertainment). Sprinkled among these fresh faces are Texas voice acting staples from FUNimation and ADV, though there were a few A-Kon regulars that were missing (Rial, McNeil, Ayers). A-Kon guest list seemed smaller than years previous because the names that were missing are convention regulars. So this year, the guest list was a collection of fresh names and new faces.
As a fan and convention attendee, the only name that appealed to me was Takahiro Umehara, character designer for Dragon Drive and Tenju Tenje. This was the first time in a while that A-Kon was able to bring in a Japanese artist to their convention. One would think that, with art being such an integral part of the anime/manga community, A-Kon would try and have more artists at the convention. And, this year, the first of the Japanese guests were not announced until about one month before the convention. A-Kon had not even aquired a single musical guest until the very end of April. Fans on several communities were concerned that this year would be all domestic names.
In the past, A-Kon has suffered from a rather predictable guest list -- good for pulling in new fans, but with no incentive for returning fans. First time customers are good, but returning customers are even better.
Scheduling and ProgramsAgain this year, A-Kon brought their standard gamut of programs and scheduling: video rooms, industry panels, games (video, tabletop, card), scavenger hunts, cell painting with Steve Bennett, VLARPing, etc.
New to A-Kon this year is the webcomic presence in the scheduling. With 20 hours of panels and discussions, A-Kon jumped head first into the webcomic community and broke a few bones along the way. By dedicating about one-third of convention time to the subject, A-Kon would have you believe that they had a strong webcomic presence to show at the convention. However, with a simple glance over the webcomic list, it’s obvious that A-Kon took on whatever they could find. There were a few that have a strong following (Something Positive, Red VS Blue), and some even have published materials (Alpha Shade, Two-Lumps, Cheap Disposable), though a majority of the panelists did not have the experience to merit a spot on a panel, let alone moderate. Also, in several instances, it was obvious that the panel coordinators did not do their research. There is a difference between a panel that is diverse and a panel that just clashes. A few times, it wasn’t just personality, but subject matter. A few panelists spent the hour making pornographic jokes at the expense of the panel’s subject matter. Though moderators were present at every panel, they themselves were being disruptive. This could have easily been avoided with third-party moderators. If staffing is an issue to find moderators for the twenty hours, then cut it down to the ten hours. This was a case in which quantity prevailed over quality. Sadly, though most of A-Kon’s regular programming went off without much problem, these new issues really drag down the overall convention experience.
For the first time in years, A-Kon published their convention schedule before opening day. Then, they had to make drastic changes at the last minute without telling attendees and guests. There were a few incidents in which panel rooms were locked. And, honestly, for a convention that has sixteen years of experience, their physical schedule as well as the one posted on the web looks absolutely amateur and is physically difficult to read. A-Kon holds a nice variety of activities and programming for all sorts of people; too bad it’s difficult to tell when and where these activities take place. Even then, it’s not all that reliable.
LayoutThis year’s theme for the convention was wasted space. The layout for the convention can be broken down into the three sections: lobby/artist alley, dealers and exhibitors, and the art show. The artist alley was massive, with a lot of tables, though there were about two rows that were just empty for whatever reason. Also, the artist alley was pressed right up against the arcades, video rooms, escalators, and badge registration. This created choke points in a few spots and left other areas wide open. A wider breadth between the lobby sections (artist alley, arcade, video rooms escalators, and registration) would have easily alleviated this.
Once again, the art show was over-booked and tightly packed. This was good in the sense that there was a lot of art; however, if a handicapped person or a larger person wanted to go through the show, it would be a very difficult task. Though this year was a little more spacious than it was last year, it was still very obvious that the art show has some spacing issues. It seems, too, that the art show brings in X amount of panels every year, no matter what space they are allotted. They need to either get a bigger room, or have less artwork.
Then there’s the dealer/exhibitors’ space. The exhibitors’ space was laid out very well: spacious, no real choke points, no one really left out in a bad spot. The dealers’ room had a few choke points in the corners and some inconsistent aisle spacing that caused some more choke points. Also, the convention should look into not allowing cosplay photography in the dealers’ room. Con attendees are not really conscious of the traffic jams they create when taking pictures in the dealers’ room. Not allowing cosplay photography would keep the flow of people moving and help avoid instant traffic jams.
Other than that, the dealers’ room did not have a bad layout, except for the fact that they blocked all the fire exits. A-Kon had to shut down their dealers’ room for at least two hours on a busy Saturday “because the Fire Marshal suddenly decided that [they] needed to rearrange [their] room” (A-Kon.com). How convient that the blame is shifted to the Fire Marshal who “suddenly” decided that blocking fire exits is a bad idea. This was rather inconvient for both attendees and dealers, most of whom were actually really professional about it all, even when facing a major loss in revenue. A-Kon was able to make up the time by letting the dealers’ room stay open later on Saturday and open early on Sunday. Again, with sixteen years of experience, they should have known better than to even think about blocking the fire exits.
A-Kon has been plagued with horrible convention layouts in the previous years, most of the time due to backing in as much as possible to make money, rather than being concerned with attendee safety.
StaffAlthough most of A-Kon’s staff was friendly, we spent most of our time running around trying to find out what was going on. It’s fairly obvious that department heads did not talk to one another, let alone to their own volunteers. The information booth did the best they could, but sometimes emails and memos do not go as far along the chain as they should. We picked up our artist alley badges from one person, then had to wade through the masses to find the person that could tell us where our table was located. Inquiries on press passes were submitted nearly two months in advance, and the response came two days before the convention. Another problem was that most of the staff on the floor were volunteers -- the bottom of the informational totem pole. Sometimes, they were there for the free badge, and there was no real incentive for them to do a good job. Other times, they were just as lost as the attendee, though they really did try to help. A-Kon security members were usually young adults/teens who did not exude any sort of authority at all, or were on some sort of power trip. They were also clearly tagged by a slightly larger than business card badge, which is a nice and clear dull orange. Though it is important to be approachable, staff members need to be distinguishable from the regular convention attendees. And, there must be something done about information getting to the right people before the right time.
AtmosphereThe general atmosphere this year was very friendly and open, though there was a general rumble no matter where you went in the convention hall. However, with a few chandelier incidents and six major injuries on the escalators (including a lost toe), it was clear that some of the staff members were on edge the entire time. Of course, the average convention attendee was oblivious to all of this backstage goings-on. The convention seemed rather subdued this year -- a real lack of screaming fangirls and egocentric fanboys. A-Kon’s decision to ban all hand-held signs this year really helped with the atmosphere. There has been a real problem with panhandling and solicitation across the nation at anime conventions, and it’s nice to see some real action to put a stop to it. Seeing broke fans holding signs begging for money, or minors seeking to exchange personal favors for a room, really puts a damper on a con experience. With these issues no longer clogging the skywalk or the lobby area, a regular attendee could enjoy the convention without being hassled.
Conclusion2005’s Project A-Kon was probably a huge financial success; however, it is still plagued with issues that the administration will not address. Year in and year out, the same layout issues have come up, with no real progress being made towards fixing them. Whether by accident or choice, the new faces on the guest list have given past attendees a reason to return. Though, with sixteen years of experience, the makers of the convention’s publication (digital and print), seem to be a bunch of amateurs. The staff that interacts with the fans are friendly people, though it is obvious that a serious lack of communication is involved within upper management. The convention has grown slowly, but the staff has probably grown too much, having become too big to handle itself and experiencing the power trips that come with that growth. This year has been one of their better years; hopefully A-Kon will be able to grow a little more, acknowledge existing problems, and make a real effort to fix them.
However, this shouldn’t detract from the proper things that go on at A-Kon. The games are usually pretty successful, the dealers’ room seemed to be doing good business this year, the artist alley didn’t seem to be an afterthought (well, mostly), and the concert/staging ran pretty smoothly all around. It just seemed that A-Kon praises itself when things go right, and totally ignores anything that goes wrong. With the convention market in Texas being saturated (A-Kon, AnimeFEST, OniCon, KamikazeKon, UshiCon, etc), A-Kon must sit down and fix their problems, or someone will eventually surpass them. It’s time to evolve or go into extinction.
As a final note, people should learn to fear and respect that escalator. It is true when I say that there were 6 major injuries and a lost toe, mostly due to not wearing shoes on the escalator and wearing costumes that drag. Also, the entrance and the exit of an escalator are not good places to stand with six friends and talk. People need to be aware of the forty people behind them trying to get on or off the escalators. Last of all, escalators do not break; they can only become stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
