Alcon 2010

[XenLár]

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Hi guys! Here's where you can give totally honest comments on the anime convention held annually in Leicester. The weekend is over and while I was in attendance and have my own opinion on things we'd like to hear what you have to say-

We'd like to know if there was anything in particular that stood out for both good and bad so that we can take this into consideration when working on our beloved EACON.

We can't make EACON better without knowing what you, the fans, want from an anime convention. So here's your chance to be brutally honest and tell us what you think...

Disclaimer:
Please use the link at the top of this post to access Alcon's official website. We do not claim to have any rights or ownership over Alcon and offer this opportunity to fans under the purposes of advertisement for the convention itself and honest feedback to it's organisers.

Please leave your comments below...

[tonyb]

this years alcon seemed a bit better than the previous years, though the events were somewhat too spread out and crossed over each other so everyone had to pick what they wanted to do rather than see everything that they wanted.

but the bar was good and the people were great and i managed to run a few good events threw the weekend and got a few good pictures too

will see if Freesayine actuely takes any of the advice he was given this year though for next year

[XenLár]

Thanks for the feedback TonyB!

Yes, feedback is very important so I hope that they do listen. We're doing this because unlike the other conventions we don't actually have a previous year to get feedback on so we're having to get feedback from other cons ^^

Duely noted about the over-lapping events ^^, and the UEA has several bars so as long as we have interesting stuff going on that should be good ^^.

[wandercrest]

i'm gonna give back 2 alcons i've attended feedback 8|

(you guys can delete if necessary as idk if its ok for previous 2 alcon review)

Ok alcon itself is not the best con. In my opinion the attendees make the con, the only reason I don't regret attending Alcon 2010 is because a lot of the people I like are coming to Kita 11 so its all cool!

There weren't many events at alcon, I know there were some panels etc, but its nice to always have something to do y'know. I think out of the two alcons I went to, I attended the end of a staff panel, went to a podcast in the main bar, went to a LK panel and that was it. I think I went to AL's pubquiz once XD

To me all Alcon really is, is a weekend to go get pissed, and no offence I can do that a lot cheaper with otakus back home XD

It needs more events, (ie always have something interesting to do). I know Al's karaoke is always not so good...not much choice in songs etc, its hentai panels have never really appealed to me, I've been to two of kitas :V.

It needs to rely less on drink (which is hard for it seeing as its in a pub...) Its staff isn't that serious, i've seen the joke report forms on the site. I do know a girl drank so much at Alcon that she passed out in her own vomit... That doesn't sell a con well, y'know, (the girl drank half a bottle of aftershock in one go, why was she allowed to do something like that, I have no idea if she was apprehended for it or anything) it sounds so unpleasant for staff to have to deal with.

/i'll probably edit more in here

[XenLár]

Hey wandercrest. Yes you can post on previous Alcon events here as there are no other threads and I guess it would be a little pointless to make threads for older conventions for only a few comments... ^^

So yeah this is the right place.

Thanks for the comments. We're going to do our best to incorporate them into what not to do at EACON and how to make EACON great ^^.

[MeekaAquraria]

Personally i felt that Alcon 10 had a lot more going for it than previous years, there were a lot of panels, and while some of them were repeats from Akemi Solloway, there were several new ones and fun ones. the biggest problem with Alcon i had was i felt too miserable from being ill to do everything I wanted to. I had at least 5 people tell me I lived up to my clan name - vampires (i.e. I looked half dead or undead). From everything i've heard from other attendees it was fun and great, with far far less drama than what happened at the previous cons, probably due to the fact that this year it was over 18's.

As for the fun incident reports, take in mind that they started sat evening after the staff had to deal with at least 10 serious reports and a lot of us were dealing with little to no sleep since thursday. It was the only way to stay sane and deal with the real problems. Besides i never saw a rule saying staff members can't have fun at the convention they've organised. Half of them do it so they can provide a fun convention for other people like them. And i know that the girl who passed out was warned that if she did drink again she would be kicked out of the convention and asked never to return.

[XenLár]

Hey IceBlade, thanks for the feedback.

Please don't feel that any criticism on this thread is a reflection of Alcon staff in general. The only thing I see is that if there are lots of problems then the organisation wasn't as good as it could have been and that meant that the staff were under a lot of pressure and that isn't fair. So of course we'll be using all of this feedback to make it the most organised that we can so that staff aren't run ragged ^^.

I'm taking into serioud consideration, however, how many problems you're describing at night and trying to work out how many staff we need on duty over night so as to make it the easiest on them ^^.

[MeekaAquraria]

Sorry if i came across strong there in defending the staff, but i know the person in charge of the incident reports and problems, was so overworked she had a bit of a breakdown on the sat. I feel that while some staff may not work to the best of their abilities, people like her should not be critised for trying to stay in a good mood. And yeah, sadly most of the problems happen at night. Really two or three people is all that's needed, with maybe one or two extra prepared to be called out of bed. Really its easily done, people just have to stay sober and not be inclined to panic or put any of the work off

[XenLár]

Exactly.

That's why we're going to be very careful on who we choose to be staff and how we're going to arrange it all.

I will be totally blunt. My own personal opinion of the staff of Alcon was that the whole arrangement was crap. But the individual staff member I can't comment on because I didn't watch them all weekend or anything. I'm sure they were doing their best more often than not. What I blame is the system they were trying to work on which is why we're going to be very careful on how we organise staff arrangements ^^ so that staff aren't so stressed out and don't feel hard done by that they can't do or see anything. ^^

[MeekaAquraria]

oh we could see something alright. A never end to the problems.

And no matter how organised you think you are, when it comes to the day its a different kettle of fish altogether. Just look at Alcon, some panels were moved because of the voice actor, and guest problems (tab got stuck in traffic in birmingham) and there was a mad dash to fill them / move them. Or at Nomcon, where they thought they were ready and in the end they ran out of badges because 1000 people showed up instead of their hopeful 700. I'm sure you've been to enough cons to notice this?

[XenLár]

Absolutely ^^

Some things just can't be avoided. I get that. But good organisation minimises the problem. ^^

Such at the voice actors being stuck in traffic etc. That's not the staff's fault but I was at Alcon and found that I wasn't told a lot of what was going on. This may have been through my own fault for not noticing something but there were a lot of people I met who felt the same. So we'll be trying to work out how to get information to everyone in the con as quickly as possible, to minimise this problem.

Then for instance with the badge problem. You sell a certain number of tickets. You make the right number of badges for those ticket sales. And then you don't let anyone else in. There. Sorted. No problem of having more than expected turn up ^^.

See what I mean? Problems are definitely unavoidable. There's always going to be problems. We're not being ignorant or naive. We've been to enough cons to know this. The only thing we do know, however, is that organisation previous to the event and leading up to it and a heck of a lot of hard work can minimise these problems ^^. As you've already said- Alcon's staff worked very hard. I'll take your word on that- they worked hard. But I thought, personally, as an attendee, that the organisation that they were working with had some faults. That's all. So we're going to be very careful in how to do things and learn from other cons mistakes, or take leaves out of their books when they've done stuff that people really like. ^^

If we'd been running this con before I'd say we'd learn from our mistakes, but as we have nothing to learn from we're just going to have to learn from others' mistakes ^^.

[kyo]

I actually staffed at alcon 2010 and worked non stop all week end coz people refused to do more than they were sechuled for, that said staff members like me and a few others tried to pick up the slack. the walkie talkies proved useless so most of the day we run around with messages and only a select few had the headsets anyway.

one thing i think that eople like about alcon is the fact that its so friendly and not so stiff and regimental, making it feel more accsesable to speak to the staff. hell i won the most shameless award and if you went you know why

[Stripe]

I think community always plays a big part in anime conventions, but there's a difference between friendly and 'cliquey' - if you're new to the convention scene, it's great, inclusive, whatever, but I... don't get along with the majority of AnimeLeague members because of /various stuff/, so I doubt I'd find AlCon friendly at all. XD Plus, when I went to Alcon 08 (god, was it really that long ago!?) I had a great time, but all I did... was drink, really. Underage to boot. XD I have no doubts that there are more events and stuff now, learning from mistakes, etcetera, but from what I've heard it is still just a massive drinkfest, which is all well and good but I go to anime conventions for the events and cosplaying etc, not just to get drunk (although I will admit, that's an added bonus..!)

I truly, truly cannot stand the AnimeLeague community, though (my opinion, no need to get defensive, AL!) and I have personal issues with the majority of Alcon staff, so I wouldn't be able to go even if I wanted to. I'm quite happy sticking with Kitacon for now though :B

[wandercrest]

I agree that a lot of me not liking Animeleague/Alcon is the communitty. At cons like kitacon and even at the Grand Cosplay Ball people made an effort to get to know each other I made lots of new friends at events. Whereas I even noticed at the last alcon I went to (09), if you didn't know the incrowd you really weren't going to have that much fun.

[kyo]

that is true i am lucky enough that i made myself known this year but i still think there is something to learn there (not alot but something) XD