The ConBlog: Zenkaikon 2009
Zenkaikon is a small anime convention located in King of Prussia, PA (what kind of town name is that??). This was my first year at the convention, and unfortunately, the experience was not pleasant. This ConBlog post isn’t going to follow the same format as my previous ones, simply because I don’t have much to talk about.
I took the two-and-a-half hour trip to Zenkaikon with my friends Ernie and Krissy from Out-Of-Time Productions. Getting into the con went pretty smoothly. The staff were very helpful in getting us our press passes with virtually no wait.
However, it went downhill from there. The first thing I noticed upon entering the con was the severe lack of space. All the rooms were very small and the hallways were cramped. There were no wide open areas at all. The Dealers Room was about as big as a classroom, as was the Main Events room. Needless to say, the con got very crowded very quickly.
Clearly, Zenkaikon staff did not expect a large turnout. How they failed to see this is beyond me, since they did get Johnny Yong Bosch, and he’s kind of a big deal. They should have known that many people would be coming just to see him, and plan accordingly. Instead, the con reached its attendance cap very quickly, and guests who had not pre-registered were told to come back the next day. People who had taken off from work, booked hotel rooms, and traveled to the con in hopes of meeting the star of Bleach and many other noteworthy titles, were simply told they couldn’t get in. In addition to this, there were weddings going on in the very same building. According to Zenkaikon staff, the weddings were booked after Zenkaikon had reserved their space, and there was nothing they could do about it. So, while it’s not Zenkaikon’s fault, it was still an annoyance.
Almost every panel or event I wanted to go into was virtually inaccessible because of the massive overcrowding. The Dealers Room was barely navigable, and contained very few items of interest.
Overall, Zenkaikon was plagued with poor planning and uninteresting events. The staff messaged me on Twitter and stated that “more space is definitely in the plans.” Let’s hope so, because if there’s no bigger venue next year, I see little chance of this con surviving for long.
Update 11/16: From looking through forums and reading comments posted by Zenkaikon staff members, it’s come to my realization that much of the con’s problems were caused by the hotel staff being inhospitable to the convention staff. In addition to the wedding issue, there were several other issues as well. The hotel set up the registration booths in the wrong area, which caused the con staff to change their plans at the last minute. There were also many issues with the hotel staff blocking off parts of the con, not fulfilling their promises, and various technical issues.
Posted on 2009-11-09, in Conventions and tagged Anime, Convention, johnny yong bosch, zenkaicon, zenkaikon. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Janai
Antz
OtakuAnthony
jaysteevee
vtine
matty
machineslife
Nyanman
Hi there,
This is Kristyn, the PR Coordinator for Zenkaikon 2009. Thank you for posting your feedback about our convention. The staff does read all of the feedback attendees give regarding our event, and all feedback, positive or negative, is always appreciated.
As I mentioned earlier, it is definitely in our plan to have a larger space next year, with larger rooms for main events, the dealers room, the artist alley, video gaming, and the convention in general. This year, we acquired a larger space than last year, however, we were conservative in our estimates, due to uncertainty about the economy. While we are very happy that there is so much interest in our convention, it is apparent that our attendance growth is outpacing both our number of staff and our amount of space. Last year, our attendance more than doubled over 2007. This year, we are likely looking at attendance growth of nearly 50%.
Due to our exceedingly high pre-registration numbers, we attempted to publicize that there were just over 200 memberships available for at-con registration on Saturday. Unfortunately, by the time we realized how high our pre-registration numbers were, it was too late to acquire much additional space. (Although we did acquire two additional small rooms to house Con Ops and the Guest Lounge, so we could add additional rooms to the event itself.) In our convention feedback session, it was also mentioned that we did make an effort to acquire the Grand Ballroom as part of our event, which would have added a large amount of additional space to the convention. Unfortunately, the hotel did not want us to use this space, as they use it for weddings and other formal events. Thus, we were relegated to making due with the space we had.
I know our staff and volunteers did try their best to accelerate the flow of people traffic using stanchions to keep lines out of the center of the halls, and tried to keep traffic moving in the main paths of the hallways. Unfortunately, due to the layout of the hotel, there was a concentration point of traffic right in front of registration. We are investigating a number of venue options for next year based on various issues we encountered this year.
As you mentioned, we did acquire a number of big-name guests this year based on feedback from our attendees. We recognize that our guest list may have outpaced the size of our event, and we all agree that our top priority is acquiring more space and staff for 2010.
I am sorry if our space issues this year kept you from fully enjoying the convention. Thank you for taking the time to attend, and we hope you will consider returing in 2010.
Sincerely,
Kristyn Souder
PR Coordinator, Zenkaikon 2009