Another Year Come and Gone
Hello, all. Nice to see you stuck around.
Well, AUSA 2006 has come and gone, and suffice to say it was a monster hit. After having about 2700 people last year and expecting about 3000, we actually ended up with nearly 3500 people, well and truly above any of our expectations. Even though this was our last year at the Tysons Sheraton, it was clear that this was the year AUSA outgrew its hotel and moved from being a small con to a mid-size con. Was this due to Crispin Freeman, kiristokyoto, Chris Patton or any of our other guests? Maybe. Was it due to MAX or PLID, our bands? Maybe. However, I'd like to think it's because we put on a show that puts the fan foremost and treats them as important, rather than just a revenue stream for aging otaku to do whatever they want.
Many of our panels were hits. There were the obvious ones, such as the voice actors' panels and whatnot, but a few new attempts, such as our Animation Workshop, Cosplay Chess, ADR Workshop and such, got rave reviews. A special note on this goes out to "What Not to Say to Female Otaku", which not only got massive applause but also a request for podcasting next year and even a potential chance to perform at AnimeNext in the coming year.
My lone panel, however, is going to need some updating. Not a problem with that, as it is advanced enough that we should have done so already, especially with some of the ideas I have for Programming next year.
Additional fun came from seeing all of my friends, as well as working with them in the Programming Center, or as we sometimes called it, "Butter Ops" (yayzors for inside jokes!). Getting to see silverlightstar, bcclark88, fausti, roannachan, reichan28, flinkie, vallaugh, rustyryu and others was a pure pleasure, and I'm always glad to work with them. ^_^
However, I should probably add that not everything was perfect. We were beset by the usual stupidities when it came to the staff suite food situation (we really need to look into that, Mark!), and some staffers need to learn how to do their job or be removed from it, preferably the latter. Another, more serious problem came about when we caught one of our own staffers professionally boosting both the hotel's and our stuff. Furthermore, it looks like other conventions he may have worked at were missing something as well, so all of the other local cons were glad to hear that we caught him and pointed the Fairfax police in their direction for further info.
The day after the con was a blast as well. Running around DC again with Cait and mtglass54 was a treasure and I'm glad to count them as friends (though I'm going to have to drag them off to the zoo and/or other weird places next time!). Unfortunately, due to some last-second drama, I didn't get the chance to give Cait all the dojin stuff I'd been digging up for her (yes, that includes the DVD of electronica MP3s that I promised to sannask as well, I haven't forgotten), so I'm going to have to FedEx that to her later.
But enough for now. Some well deserved rest is coming for me, as well as the holiday winddown, and then t3h 3\/1L planning for AUSA 2007!
EDIT: Turns out the thief was (thankfully) not only not a staffer, but might not even had been a real attendee. It would have been bad if one of our own really was at fault.
Well, AUSA 2006 has come and gone, and suffice to say it was a monster hit. After having about 2700 people last year and expecting about 3000, we actually ended up with nearly 3500 people, well and truly above any of our expectations. Even though this was our last year at the Tysons Sheraton, it was clear that this was the year AUSA outgrew its hotel and moved from being a small con to a mid-size con. Was this due to Crispin Freeman, kiristokyoto, Chris Patton or any of our other guests? Maybe. Was it due to MAX or PLID, our bands? Maybe. However, I'd like to think it's because we put on a show that puts the fan foremost and treats them as important, rather than just a revenue stream for aging otaku to do whatever they want.
Many of our panels were hits. There were the obvious ones, such as the voice actors' panels and whatnot, but a few new attempts, such as our Animation Workshop, Cosplay Chess, ADR Workshop and such, got rave reviews. A special note on this goes out to "What Not to Say to Female Otaku", which not only got massive applause but also a request for podcasting next year and even a potential chance to perform at AnimeNext in the coming year.
My lone panel, however, is going to need some updating. Not a problem with that, as it is advanced enough that we should have done so already, especially with some of the ideas I have for Programming next year.
Additional fun came from seeing all of my friends, as well as working with them in the Programming Center, or as we sometimes called it, "Butter Ops" (yayzors for inside jokes!). Getting to see silverlightstar, bcclark88, fausti, roannachan, reichan28, flinkie, vallaugh, rustyryu and others was a pure pleasure, and I'm always glad to work with them. ^_^
However, I should probably add that not everything was perfect. We were beset by the usual stupidities when it came to the staff suite food situation (we really need to look into that, Mark!), and some staffers need to learn how to do their job or be removed from it, preferably the latter. Another, more serious problem came about when we caught one of our own staffers professionally boosting both the hotel's and our stuff. Furthermore, it looks like other conventions he may have worked at were missing something as well, so all of the other local cons were glad to hear that we caught him and pointed the Fairfax police in their direction for further info.
The day after the con was a blast as well. Running around DC again with Cait and mtglass54 was a treasure and I'm glad to count them as friends (though I'm going to have to drag them off to the zoo and/or other weird places next time!). Unfortunately, due to some last-second drama, I didn't get the chance to give Cait all the dojin stuff I'd been digging up for her (yes, that includes the DVD of electronica MP3s that I promised to sannask as well, I haven't forgotten), so I'm going to have to FedEx that to her later.
But enough for now. Some well deserved rest is coming for me, as well as the holiday winddown, and then t3h 3\/1L planning for AUSA 2007!
EDIT: Turns out the thief was (thankfully) not only not a staffer, but might not even had been a real attendee. It would have been bad if one of our own really was at fault.