What Went Poorly at Otakon 2022

Here's my video on what went well at Otakon 2022: • What Went Well at Otak...
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[@Cateye53HO]

You also have to consider that otakon this year had a record number of attendees with over 40000 so factor that in as well as to why it was heavily trafficked

[@jackrussell3084]

In my experience, I find the staff at Cons are always pretty socially inept, maybe because at this particular convention you had to deal with the staff more than usual so it surfaced more. But I have always found Con staff to speak rude and abruptly so I wear really thick skin to conventions (if I go). I think the reason is, most of their volunteers dont have much going for themselves (work-wise) and are gentlemen of leisure, I think the "power" goes to their head a bit. Anyways just my 2 cents.

[@Finnedquill6918]

The staff from the convention center, not the otakon staff, were very rude and shutting down lines alot. It was like dealing with an even worse version of Smithsonian security

[@gabriellehess29]

The workshops especially were a disaster! I tried to get into three different ones, got there an hour early, and still didn't get in. They should have let people reserve spots like the Maid Café so people didn't waste hours waiting for a workshop they couldn't get into. Also they should have sent updates if panels were full on the guidebook app.

[@kannaxkatsuix]

honestly for me eveything went perfectly, I know its your opinion but here's what happen to me. I arrived at 10:20am there was a lot of people but I still went in line, evem if I didnt pay online my line was 20min and for the ones that payed online it was 5min. So this is fairly fast for a con that montrealers have been waiting for 3 years. About that! the reason the staff wasnt as orgonised was because they underestimated how many people would come. Young cosplayers and famillies in Canada have been waiting for this event because Covid19 forced everyone to stay indoors. About the Vaccine policy, I have no idea what you are talking about. They never asked me if I was vaccinated or not. And I'm sorry if you didnt pay attention to the site but they did give the scedual early plus the infuencers that would be there. Plus everything was behind the badge and if you explored a bit you would be able to see maps and the scedual.. Again, my experiance. And the staff is as young as 16yo to older, so if you assume that most are minors, I can understand that they were anxious do act. But yeah I wont say more, because I left at 4pm.

[@AnimeArchaeology]

I'm glad you had a great time! As I mentioned, I'm sure it went great for some folks. I can only speak to my experience. As to underestimating how many people would come: have you heard any stories about them running out of badges? I haven't yet, so if they had enough badges for all these people, at least *someone* on staff expected this many. It's strange.

[@GingerGaiden]

I had to pause the video to write this comment, it is SO crazy to me that they would put your Parent's Guide to Anime panel at 10pm. I'm sorry but WHO do they put in these positions that make the most nonsensical decisions on panel times? That's ridiculous.

[@dr0pk1x]

It's crazy how the events of this story just kept getting worse and worse. Seems like the planning this year was a bit of a disaster.

[@davidosivnik2806]

I am sorry you had a negative experience at a con. I have run 100+ hours of panels over the years and never had anything like that happen to me. The Ohio conventions I have run panels at have always had a separate badge for panelist(I like to collect them) and you would pick them up at con operations.

[@davidosivnik2806]

Also what panel group are you part of

[@otaple]

I've noticed a trend of passive aggressive messages on con websites. Apparently some people think it's funny. I just find it to be hostile. I remember the first year Otakon was in DC and the lines and getting into the building were really chaotic. Staff blamed everything on it being a new venue. Obviously they still haven't gotten the hang of things. A-kon this year had an even worse schedule app situation where the app crashed if too many people tried to access it at once. Guess what happened when every attendee tried to access the schedule friday, saturday and sunday? Basically, there was just no schedule and the info desk posted a sign in marker that said something to the effect of: don't ask us about the schedule. Panel attendance was poor because no one knew what or where or when anything was happening and as a result most people ended up hanging out in the halls the whole con which caused congestion issues and whatnot. Bananas how long these cons have been around and yet can never seem to run smoothly.

[@rxzero00]

I feel sorry for your time there being a bit of a bad experience. Maybe the convention can do better next time. I wish you the best. I seriously think they gave you a lot of disrespect from what you said. I mean, couldn't they give you the ribbons in a nicer way. It sounds quite rude to just toss it at you without saying much and leave after your panel was done. Anyway, I hope you would have a better experience as a panelist next time either there or somewhere else with more respect.