anime mid atlantic rant or How much richmond sucks?

[Brakus]

I know I'm late, but....

I thought Katsucon was a poorly organised con. In the past I have seen tons of problems at katsucon getting the right equipment, The video contest messing up etc. It all fails in comparison to this fiasco.

If you had any problems with Katuscon's contest, you need to talk to Bryan Minnix and his buddy Michael Zubryski, because they ran this year's contest without a hitch. Moreover, I don't know what Katsucon's contest has to do with AMA's contest considering two different people run those contests.

Friday night we managed to get sound just in time to get the contest started because nobody thought that the amv contest might need sound equipment!!!.

It would have helped immensely if Bryan actually attended the crash meeting back in May. Not only am I on staff at AMA, but also I (co-)run the DDR contest at AMA, and I made sure I attended the crash meeting so that I could make sure timeslots are straight and equipment is all taken care of. As Bryan was in charge of the AMV contest, I'd have hoped he'd make it to the crash meeting, but if he didn't, he needs to make sure he talks with Programming and Logistics to make sure he's got everything he needs for the contest. And for other stuff that the convention can't provide, Bryan needs to make arrangements to have his stuff there, or at least a network of friends who can provide stuff.

Saturdays showing sucked because the same equipment scrounged up the night before was stolen

It probably wasn't stolen; the equipment probably belonged to Logistics and it was probably returned to them.

and the dvd player skipped and only one speaker worked.

That's when you call Tech Crew.

On top of this half of the staff were very rude to us and the attendees we went to con opps to count ballots for the contest and were sent to the con suite while up there we were then forced to leave by others.

Con ops is NOT a place for you to count ballots. Also if you are not staff, you're not allowed in the staff suite, period. I don't believe AMA provides access to staff suite for panelists. Bryan could go in there if he wanted, but he can't have non-staffers tag along. Staff suite is supposed to be where staffers go to "get away" from the Con for a while.

It almost seemed as if we were not wanted at this con.

I can't speak for the rest of the convention staff, but not all staff privileges extend to panelists. And of course it's not a good idea to constantly ask the Con chairman for things when they needed to be brought up with Ops, Logistics, or Programming.

This was a small con less than a 1000 people all weekend I would say.

AMA got about 3400 attendees this year. A lot more than 1000.

The one good thing I remember about the con was the rave.

Oh, you mean the rave that started a whole 1 1/2 hours late?

This con took place in what has to be the most run down city I have ever been in. A complete example of everything moving to the suburbs. I never had a problem crossing the street traffic was minimal even on saturday night. At the con you could either pay 4 bucks for a slice of pizza or go to a crappy food court down the street which had half of it's businesses closed and questionable hygeine.

You could have ordered pizza/Chinese and have it delivered. Of course, you should be one to talk about questionable hygiene, MrOni, especially since you left your clothes back home for the entire weekend.

I won't be going back to this con I don't recommend it to anyone there are plenty on the east coast including katsu, and anime usa not to mention otakon all of which are ran alot better than this pos.

Yeah, whatever, you had a lousy weekend, and because of that the con sucked. Big deal. We had a lot of people enjoy themselves despite the hiccups that happened during the weekend. A lot of the bad stuff that occurred in your post was mostly not AMA's problem. It was a lot of your problems. For you to trash AMA because YOU didn't have a good time is insipid, boring, and stupid.

- J
Speaking for myself and DEFINITELY not for AMA.

[Brakus]

I'd say a youth curfew would kill the chance of any out of city draw for a con by itself - not to mention the support of any sane staff or organizers... did I just inadvertantly stumble onto something?

From what I'd heard as a staffer, the mayor of Richmond discussed allowing an exception to the curfew law in Richmond. Because AMA is a private event (i.e. you need a membership to attend, which you do when you get a badge at registration), the curfew is the closing time of the facility, which was supposed to be 2:00am. Unfortunately, the Richmond Police had a different idea, and they basically enforced the city curfew during this year's AMA. Lord knows we all weren't thrilled by the Convention Center's "Voice Of God" reminding us about the curfew. It just seemed that the mayor of Richmond's word isn't as good as their Police and their word.

I'm hoping something gets worked out for next year so that we don't have to worry about curfews and such for AMA - especially since there's not much of a nightlife in Richmond to speak of....

[BasharOfTheAges]

I always wondered about memberships like that for cons. Are you a member because you are given membership status or because you sign your name to the dotted line? If it's the latter, the police were in their legal right to ignore those membership "agreements" because if a minor signs them they're not legally valid - especially if the signed documents constitute any sort of contract (like the clauses most cons have to revoke the rights of the badge-holder for any reason they see fit).

I always found signing stuff like that (and, say book contracts in school) to be hilarious as a minor - knowing full-well that a minor can't enter into a legally binding contract, and don't get me started on AMV contest entry forms for "legal purposes" - Without a witness those offer no legal protection whatsoever.

[Mroni]

I know I'm late, but....

I thought Katsucon was a poorly organised con. In the past I have seen tons of problems at katsucon getting the right equipment, The video contest messing up etc. It all fails in comparison to this fiasco.

If you had any problems with Katuscon's contest, you need to talk to Bryan Minnix and his buddy Michael Zubryski, because they ran this year's contest without a hitch. Moreover, I don't know what Katsucon's contest has to do with AMA's contest considering two different people run those contests.

Ok First off let me say Katsucons amv contest this year was great I was talking about problems I have seen There in the past. As a con goer I am comparing 3 cons I have went to in Virginia I don't know who runs them I don't care. A sucky con is a suck con

Friday night we managed to get sound just in time to get the contest started because nobody thought that the amv contest might need sound equipment!!!.

It would have helped immensely if Bryan actually attended the crash meeting back in May. Not only am I on staff at AMA, but also I (co-)run the DDR contest at AMA, and I made sure I attended the crash meeting so that I could make sure timeslots are straight and equipment is all taken care of. As Bryan was in charge of the AMV contest, I'd have hoped he'd make it to the crash meeting, but if he didn't, he needs to make sure he talks with Programming and Logistics to make sure he's got everything he needs for the contest. And for other stuff that the convention can't provide, Bryan needs to make arrangements to have his stuff there, or at least a network of friends who can provide stuff.

Well all this stuff should be done in advance of the con. It should be known how many panels there will be and every room should a dvd player and a sound system. This was a tiny con it isn't that complicated. Let me say that the staff setting this stuff up was definitley competent they were actually dealing with shitty equipment.

Saturdays showing sucked because the same equpment scrounged up the night before was stolen

It probably wasn't stolen; the equipment probably belonged to Logistics and it was probably returned to them.

No it was swapped with the non working equipment.

On top of this half of the staff were very rude to us and the attendees we went to con opps to count ballots for the contest and were sent to the con suite while up there we were then forced to leave by others.

Con ops is NOT a place for you to count ballots. Also if you are not staff, you're not allowed in the staff suite, period. I don't believe AMA provides access to staff suite for panelists. Bryan could go in there if he wanted, but he can't have non-staffers tag along. Staff suite is supposed to be where staffers go to "get away" from the Con for a while.

Hello we were all staff had the badges and all. Con opps had a big table in the back of that was not in use. The amv contest is an important part of a con so yes counting ballots was a legitimate use of con ops we were told we could have the space at con ops the the day before but then Brian was told to use the con suite while there we got really shitty "Your not welcome here treatment" From people that were acting like elite staff or something it was complete bullshit.

It almost seemed as if we were not wanted at this con.

I can't speak for the rest of the convention staff, but not all staff privileges extend to panelists. And of course it's not a good idea to constantly ask the Con chairman for things when they needed to be brought up with Ops, Logistics, or Programming

Seems to me that con chair could have had things running better I.e. making sure all rooms were setup before the con. This was just my experience btw not speaking for everyone and there were many pleasant people there too.

This was a small con less than a 1000 people all weekend I would say.

AMA got about 3400 attendees this year. A lot more than 1000.

sorry Dude I'm used to a lot bigger cons.

The one good thing I remember about the con was the rave.

Oh, you mean the rave that started a whole 1 1/2 hours late?

well there you go! I didn't know that though because you see I'm very fat and I only go to the last 30 minutes of a rave less a heart attack ensue.

This con took place in what has to be the most run down city I have ever been in. A complete example of everything moving to the suburbs. I never had a problem crossing the street traffic was minimal even on saturday night. At the con you could either pay 4 bucks for a slice of pizza or go to a crappy food court down the street which had half of it's businesses closed and questionable hygeine

Of course, you should be one to talk about questionable hygiene, MrOni, especially since you left your clothes back home for the entire weekend.

This is the one insulting thing you have said so far brak and I do take offense do you suspose I would wander around all weekend with no clean clothes. No I had to go pay over 100 bucks to make up for what I left behind. I might be an ogre I'm not a dirt ball though.

I won't be going back to this con I don't recommend it to anyone there are plenty on the east coast including katsu, and anime usa not to mention otakon all of which are ran alot better than this pos.

Yeah, whatever, you had a lousy weekend, and because of that the con sucked. Big deal. We had a lot of people enjoy themselves despite the hiccups that happened during the weekend. A lot of the bad stuff that occurred in your post was mostly not AMA's problem. It was a lot of your problems. For you to trash AMA because YOU didn't have a good time is insipid, boring, and stupid.

I love that word insipid Anyway I stand by my words I have been to lots of cons and this one was the suckiest in all the ways I just mentioned.


Mr Oni

[Adv1sor]

This was my first time attending AMA and I have to say that, based on what I've read here and seen in their Yahoo Groups posting, I must have been at a different place.

The hotel checked me in super early to a good room and provided great service.

Checking in at the con Friday morning was one of the quickest and best organized check-in's I've seen.

When I asked where or when something was happening the con volunteers were always friendly and helpful.

AMA was smaller than most cons. It had a very relaxed feel. I enjoyed hanging out at a table above the artist alley. The food at the convention center was a little pricey, but was better than most con food. I thought that AMV contest went very very well. Most of the events I saw started on time or close. The concerts were amazing!

My thanks to the AMA staff and volunteers for a fun relaxing weekend of anime!

I'm looking forward to attending AMA again next year.

[Gene Starwind 21122]

I know I'm late, but....


It would have helped immensely if Bryan actually attended the crash meeting back in May. Not only am I on staff at AMA, but also I (co-)run the DDR contest at AMA, and I made sure I attended the crash meeting so that I could make sure timeslots are straight and equipment is all taken care of. As Bryan was in charge of the AMV contest, I'd have hoped he'd make it to the crash meeting, but if he didn't, he needs to make sure he talks with Programming and Logistics to make sure he's got everything he needs for the contest. And for other stuff that the convention can't provide, Bryan needs to make arrangements to have his stuff there, or at least a network of friends who can provide stuff.

Okay Brakus I told the con-chair and I told you both I had military duty that weekend. Before you go saying I should have asked it off, I have an obligation to the my unit. Also before you say I had an obligation to the contest, I know I did. However when I was at Katsucon I heard from the con-chair that he talked to you about the contest. You had a chance to run it but turned it down. I took one for the team and ran the contest this year. I plan on running a more organized contest. Eventhough the behind the scene stuff was messy, the actual showing went off well. Despite the one speaker issue and DVD Player on Saturday. I am going to make sure that the equipment is all there ahead of time and inform the con-chair to give me more time to set up on Saturday so there aren't any problems and no delays. I sent an email out to the con-chair and tech staff about equipment I would need, nobody responded to my email. I called the con-chair personally and talked to him about it. He assured me everything was going to be there.

Oh and may I mention I only had 4 months to get the contest set up, get the rules online, gather prizes (which I'll be contacting everybody about for I had to think on how they were going to be sent out and other things plus they are in Richmond right now and need to pick them up), get some help with the ftp server, and try to think of what equipment I was going to need. Also I came up with a new judging system for the contest compared to the past years to make it a more balanced contest. The yaio video that finished 2nd for judges award in romance would probably not have finished 2nd if we were just judging on enjoyablity, but we had a detailed process of judging so enjoyablity only counted for a small part of the score. And I had to work this all around my military schedule. For everytime there was a meeting I had drill except the one time.

[quote="Mr.Oni]and the dvd player skipped and only one speaker worked. [/quote]

That's when you call Tech Crew.

I would have done a test first on the system and tried each video but the charity event only left me with 15 minutes to get setup for the contest.

Kind of hard when the crappy walkies they give you don't work. Besides I was already half way through the contest before any problems occured. I've learned my lesson that I stuff goes wrong at conventions and staff members move equipment because a problem occurs, so eventhough I don't have the time I should have checked to make sure its all wired probably and is the same equipment I had before even if it means delaying the contest an hour. I'm sure that goes over really well with the con-goers. I know I don't like it when stuff is delayed. However that's what happens at most cons though.

On top of this half of the staff were very rude to us and the attendees we went to con opps to count ballots for the contest and were sent to the con suite while up there we were then forced to leave by others.

Con ops is NOT a place for you to count ballots. Also if you are not staff, you're not allowed in the staff suite, period. I don't believe AMA provides access to staff suite for panelists. Bryan could go in there if he wanted, but he can't have non-staffers tag along. Staff suite is supposed to be where staffers go to "get away" from the Con for a while.

I personally asked the con-chair if I could use that back room to count the ballets. Since we had 6 staff members to count ballots and do line control and collecting the ballots and do seating. I made sure I had enough people to do the job and make sure the whole seating and ballot process went smoothly. So basically the left hand didn't tell the right hand at con-ops at the time what we were doing. Then they said to use the staff suite. The person up in the staff suite said we could use it as long as they weren't busy then we had to leave. Then she got a report of staffers coming up and expected us to move immediately. Well we we're in the middle of counting the votes. I asked her where would you like us to count the ballots for I have no idea where to go that can hold the group of people I have. And she took offense to that and told us to get out or she would call security.

You could have ordered pizza/Chinese and have it delivered. Of course, you should be one to talk about questionable hygiene, MrOni, especially since you left your clothes back home for the entire weekend.

Now that was very inapproiate to bring up here. I mean seriously I've left in a hurry before and forgot things at home. Actually I think I forgot socks and my shaving supplies at home on time for a convention and had to go out and buy things. Mr.Oni is not some slob as you are saying he is.

Anyways it was alot of miscommunications on both ends. I am holding myself responsible for not being more persistent on getting the equipment and having more time. I am already working ideas for next year. I'll have my own personal dvd player so I don't have to rely on the equipment at the con. As for the speakers I'm talking to the con-chair about assigning equipment to the rooms. So that way it will never leave those rooms and if something breaks have the back-up equipment in storage as replacements and not take it from other rooms. Once they are in there, they stay there so it doesn't mess up screenings and the event schedule. I still had a great time when I wasn't running around with my head chopped off. I have many ideas for next year and a better idea on how to run the contest. Overall I'd give myself a C, for running the contest in my first year. I mean there could have been alot more things to be done better, but doing it on short notice and being it was my first time and the Friday Screening going flawlessly I'd say that was amazing.

Brakus I think you need to back down at least I had the courage to run the contest this year. I could have turned it down and told them no I want to enter AMA AMV Contest this year for I want a chance at my video being in the finals. Instead for having high respect for the AMV Contest I did not want to see it not happen this year for they couldn't find anybody to fill Joykiller's spot.

It was an honor to run AMA's AMV Contest. I'm working on next year's contest already for a new intro design and getting an FTP setup for everybody.

Gene Starwind 21122

Oh and Adv1sor thanks for your complement for now I know what it is like to run an amv contest and have a lot more respect for the other coordinator's that run them.

[GRIM_REAP]

We have curfews? In America? Really?

Is this common?

It mostly occurs in areas that are high crime and quick to use force and martial law to take care of the crime instead of trying to treat the problems that cause it.

Alternatively you see it in suburbian areas where a relitively small portion of the electorate has children and the law is only related to minors in a punishment-centric capacity.

In either case, the community usually isn't made up of enough people from cultures that traditionally have a night-life - or you know there would be charges of descrimination all over the place.

O.k., reading over this and i couldn't stop laughing, wisconsin has like one convention, last time i went to it, it sucked big time and i've been talking with a few clubs to put one toghther, but the big problem is, we have to have a curfew for it! aton of cities have adopted curfews, even when they are some of the safest areas!

but, yeah heard about this convention and the rave, got a friend who goes to a ton of these things , she took afew pics...

[BasharOfTheAges]

If there are raves in the area then perhaps the curfews are set to prevent youth drug culture.
if you're going to use a term like rave incorrectly, then you deal with the consequences when "concerned citizens" get involved.

[LunaAislin]

Your all retarded.
It's not THAT hard.
The contest sucked.
The convention sucked.

Maybe itll be better next year.

Can we all stop crying now?