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Kakkoi|Con 2008 (Vlog 2.18) | |
Posted Aug 4, 2008 - 14:49:54
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UPDATE: More about my comments on MixBeat Productions/Mix Beat Productions can be found in this follow up post/video/article.
We went to Kakkoi|Con 2008 in the Twin Cities to vend for Rising Stuff and Promote No Brand Con with a room party. I had a good time, but it was the sort of event that invites a mixed reaction... as there were some staggering issues.
Music at the end of the video is the recently remixed "Priceless Too" by me under my "Lt. Snorkel" name. Nothing too exciting there though.
As for the Convention... First and foremost, I want to point out that I had a good time, and that I've seen conventions run far worse than that. There were, however, some MASSIVE issues that need to be addressed in the long run.- Registration
The Registration Lines were the worst I've seen at a con this size. You expect them at a con like ACen, but Kakkoi|Con (according to the staff member I asked) only had a 1,300 attendance. That makes it only slightly larger than No Brand Con... which has practically NO lines. A little more organization, a few more volunteers, and a simpler system would make this work.
- Music, Loudness, and Mix Beat Productions
As we were running a room party on Saturday night, we were placed in a room party block. Now, we expected it to be loud -- we've been doing this for a while -- but what we didn't expect was for the adjoining room to have a full DJ setup with giant speakers... that vibrated our room. Literally. We ended up getting our party room moved to the first floor (which actually worked out better... as people wanted to get away from the thumping). The large thumping though was from a party run by Mix Beat Productions, the sound company brought in to do the convention's sound. When I talked to the guy from MBP, he attempted to be accommodating... but he did this by offering me Valium (a controlled substance) for my girlfriend, and making some sexist comments about "women like that." I have brought this to the attention of the Staff, so hopefully it will be dealt with. The biggest problem though was that by setting up official events at one end of the open pool area, and by having the DJ party at the other... they made it impossible to get away from the noise and still be social. It also appears that the DJ guys brought in quite a few "non-convention" people... which put a lot of people off.
- That One Security Guy... and the masked Security
I want to make this clear: The Staff at Kakkoi|Con was for the most part great. Those I had long conversations with were really nice people who were working hard to put together this convention. That said, there was ONE GUY who was a total jerk. He was a heftier guy with a lip ring, and he was abrupt to my workers, rude, and overall a jerk. He also repeatedly would ask Crysta (who was working behind the booth all weekend) to see her badge. Y'know, that she was wearing. All weekend. Right there. Of course, he never asked me... but I was also bigger than he was. Much of the security was the "Neko Army" though -- and while they were fine, a lot of them wore masks. This is a problem on many levels. If one of them had stepped out of line, how would I have identified him? It also made staff intimidating, which gives a bad air to the con... and combined with the yelling, pushy guy... it just was not good for their image.
I do want to reiterate that the vendor relations head Claire was excellent, efficient, and helpful. When I spotted a bootlegger, they were fast to react... which is more than what can be said about some other conventions. I've seen some other people complain on forums about the heavy J-culture influence on the panels and events... but, y'know, they kind of advertised that as their slant. It's why I never bothered trying to get them to invite Happy Wednesday. I also am surprised that so many people were mad there wasn't a consuite. No Brand Con doesn't have a consuite either. Consuites are a pain in the ass to run... but I think since all the other Twin Cities cons seem to have Consuites that people have gotten spoiled. But hey, that's life.
- Traegorn
Yeah, from talking to other congoers, they seemed put off more by the 'cutting' of the consuit. Apparently the con said they were going to have a consuite and later recinded on that. Also, a lot of midwest cons seem to have consuites like Detour, Iowa, and Sogen (couldn't find it, but supposedly it was there last year).
Sogen's con suite was a vip room that was locked the entire weekend and they finally gave all the sponsors keys to it by Saturday night...however it offered little and it was never restocked all weekend
First and fore most it is extremely unprofessional for you to slander someone, or a company online like that. We were specifically hired to run sound for the main stage. Also we rented a room in the designated party area. Before renting it when we attended a sit down meeting with Ryan and Sam we told them what we were planning on doing in it and they did approve. Also neither hotel or convention security had an issue with our room. We tried to accomidate you, but I think that you thought we were kinding when we offered to allow you to set up some of the games in there on Saturday. Since your main concern was that they are rythem games people would not be able to hear them, why not set up a projector in our room as well as run the sound through our 2, speakers that were running in there. As for the non convention go-ers that made the vibe bad. We had nothing to do with that. Everyone that we promoted to was told that it is a convention not a party, and that they needed to pay to get in.
Now once again I am sorry that you, and your girlfriend were upset. But we were hired, had approval, were paid to be there, bought a suite for the weekend, and offered other ways to accomidate you. So upon having all that cleared up, try to get more information about something before you go and vlog about to make yourself feel better. Any other issues that you have feel free to take them up with us at www.mixbeatproductions.com
-MixBeat
Nothing I stated was slanderous or libelous as nothing in my complaints is untrue. If Sam and Ryan gave you permission to run that set up, then my particular complaint on that count is at their feet. I seriously doubt they were thinking of the acoustic issues when it happened. My complaint and comment is entirely true, including the offering of a controlled substance. Maybe you should consider what you say and who you say it to in the future. I am the convention director and co-founder of one of the older Anime conventions in the region. I have a reputation for professionalism, and am not one who is known to exaggerate. You've earned a black mark in my book and I feel no guilt voicing it on my personal website.
I should also point out that, if you read my actual post, it is a general complaint and the only specific criticisms I list as MBP's fault are the comments made to me in personal communication -- hence MBP only being listed as one of three points in the title of that paragraph.
that maybe the most amazing response to a blog I've ever seen...
sorry I missed the con... and failed to get an ad... and failed to get flyers... man I failed that weekend...
Wow. Somebody at MixBeat's got their panties all up in a bunch. I;d just ignore them if I were you.
people lately seem to be extremely incapable of accepting any sort of criticism gracefully.
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