four reasons cons suck

It had been my original plan to write an article entitled, "How to make a con not suck." I've gone to eleven conventions, staffed two, and am working hard on making a third come off right. In the process of composition, I've realized that it'll take more than a single article. This first piece in this series will be about the things which make a con not fun and will offer potential remedies. Later pieces will introduce specific ideas which have worked to make cons enjoyable. (Read part two.)

Having just come from Anime Expo, the largest con in the nation, I've gotten to see a convention go wrong (and right) in the most dramatic of ways. However, the things which cause conventions to be less fun, and the lessons learned therefrom can be universally applied.

Suck
Suck occurs when some sort of technical difficulty causes an event to misfire. A video room projector dies, or someone kicks the speaker plugs out, or a guest speaker is late. At Anime Expo this year, it was the Anime Music Videos which disintegrated. (I was told later that it had something to do with the staff re-encoding the videos in their own image and making them unusable in the process.)

While many of these events are unforseeable, most can be insured against. There should always be a supply of spare video and a/v equipment. There should never be want for a DVD player or a cable. While this may involve an extra car trip, it means that a two hour delay can be shortened to a ten minute one. There's not much to do about a guest being late save to have flexible staff which can accommodate for the sudden hole in the schedule. (Flexible staff unfortunately are harder to come by than spare a/v equipment.) The important thing to remember is that problems always come up. Factoring this into the planning of a convention will make things go much more smoothly. Suck can be heavily exacerbated by (and even caused by). . .

Crud

Crud is when a convention becomes less fun due to its structure, venue limitations or the quality of the staff. When scheduling is full of conflicts, that is Crud. When staff is rude, that's Crud. When the lines are way too long but the Dealers' Room is sparsely attended, that is Crud. When Anime Expo's Film Room projector fails to operate because a certain staff member forgot to bring two vital components, this is Crud induced Suck. Of course, Crud can work in the con-goers' favor. When security is lax and it is easy to sneak into restricted areas, this is Good Crud. Except from the standpoint of the convention staff, of course.

Crud can be remedied by competent leadership and good planning. If a convention has the luxury of returning to the same venue, it is important to apply the lessons learned the previous year. Currently, conventions are enjoying up to a 50% growth rate this year. That should be planned for. Most importantly, it must be remembered that conventions are held for the attendees. If they aren't being made happy, someone isn't doing their job. If the attendees aren't the top priority, it's no longer a con. Which brings us to...

SCuD

SCuD is an acronym. It occurs when a convention, blinded by the pursuit of cash, pays so much deference to the anime industry that the content and style of the convention are dictated by corporations rather than the wishes of the attendees.

SCuD kills convention mascots, replacing them with images from the promoter's current hot series. SCuD warps video room programming to exclude fansubs and air only the first episodes of new commercial series. SCuD means rampant and obnoxious advertising. SCuD turns Cons into Expos. SCuD is not essential to the survival of a large con. A fine convention in Baltimore of equivalent size seems to have no trouble telling the Big Boys to kindly keep their distance. Of course, the flip side is that SCuD can mean big prizes for prominent events such asthe Masquerade. Nothing is purely black and white. Save perhaps for...

Dumb

When it is the attendees themselves who in fact cause the headaches through boredom, malice, or stupidity, this is Dumb. Sadly, it the hardest factor to control. Who can say what will whip a crowd of otherwise docile fans into a bunch of idiotic "Chair" chanters? Who can prevent a few jerks from defacing another fan's car, or the stairwell of a hotel? Of course a happy attendee is less likely(theoretically) to do these things, so keeping Suck, Crud, and SCuD to a minimum will help.

The other way to limit Dumb is to limit attendees. Chances are that if your convention has a limited focus (yaoi, yuri, shoujou, Gundam, etc.) the congoers will be more interested in the subject material than doing damage. Maybe. But a good security team on hand to maintain control never hurts. (Armed with big paper fans, perhaps.)

No convention is immune to these four potential con-killers, but everyone has the power to lessen their impact.

Of course, no one ever ran a fun con by eliminating negatives. The next article in this series will be all about things which make for a good event.

—gideon