The staff of Providence Anime Conference Gives Tips on What NOT to do when Planning a Con
As we all know, Anime Boston is a well-oiled machine. Its staff works year-round to ensure that we fans have the best possible experience every year.
But what about cons that aren't so lucky?
In their hilariously informative Friday panel, Providence Anime Conference: 10 Years Later, the staff of the one-time New England Anime Society convention detailed their experiences putting on the show. On hand was the convention's founder (and Anime Boston co-founder) Patrick Delahanty, chairperson Christian Daly, exhibits manager Mara K. (who also briefly served as chairperson), and site liasion Elliott Wong. Delahanty opened the panel with the only thing he could say.
"I'm Patrick Delahanty, and it was all my fault."
Delahanty and his staff shared their experiences planning the convention, which everyone wanted to put on for two reasons:
1. It was to be a more mature, serious, 21+ gathering
2. Providence, Rhode Island did not have any sort of anime cons at the time.
Ntaurally, the panel quickly turned into a decent list of what NOT to do if you would ever like to put on an anime convention, age restrictions or not.
So, if you are planning to start your own anime convention someday, be sure to follow these tips, directly from the mouths of the PAC staff.
Don't mention that it is going to be a 21+ convention while promoting it.
"I don't know if you've ever said that to a room full of people [of all ages] before, but when we did at Anime Boston in 2007, the reaction was pretty quiet after that."
When promoting, it's a good idea to promote in the state you plan to hold the convention in.
"I think the only time we were even IN Providence before the con was when we were touring the facility."
If you didn't plan your promotion table at another convention accordingly, quit while you're ahead.
"I had my friend who was cosplaying as Android 18 from Dragon Ball...attract people to our table."
Announce your pre-registration dates early.
"We didn't announce them until after Anime Boston 2008, and when no one was signing up, we said, 'uh oh, we may have a BIG problem here.'"
Make sure that your PR director actually does their job.
"We didn't know where she was. Well, we did: she was in Alaska. She didn't do anything we asked her to do and resigned three weeks before the event. She told us she would not retaliate against us, though."
Read the contract that you have with the venue thoroughly.
"It got to the point where putting on the show and having no one show up would be less expensive than cancelling all of the contracts."
Don't have part of your programming be a panel called "How to Start an Anime Con"--for your own good.
"We looked at the slides and realized that we were doing everything wrong!"
Despite the setbacks, Providence Anime Conference actually resonated with the fans who did attend its one and only showing. While hallways were empty (which was naturally frustrating to dealers), panel and video rooms were packed. Fans got to enjoy the unintentional hilarity of such videos as Titanic: The Legend Continues and Penguin Memories. In addition, the staff was treated to one of the best after parties in recent memory.
"Someone tweeted, 'if as many people who asked me about PAC actually went to PAC, it would have been a financial success."
While PAC may be no more (and no, its staff is adamant that it is not coming back), it did manage to inspire at least two other conventions to start 21+ events. In addition, it also was cited as the inspiration behind Anime Boston's 21+ track of programming, which includes everything from videos to fan panels to risque game shows.
As one of the people running Shatterdome Atlanta, how did you balance everything else in your life? I'm working a part time job and going full time to college, would it be silly of me to even attempt it until I was out of school?
I DO NOT SLEEP I AM A ROBUT.
Actually, I don't watch TV and con-running meshes well with my hobbies, so that's how I make time. I also make good use of things like my lunch break at my full-time job. But I won't lie; I think about Shatterdome Atlanta every day and work on it in some capacity on a regular basis.
If you're on the front-end planning side for a con, it can take 1-2+ hours a day for a good stretch of time. As you get closer to the con, jobs like Security, Volunteering, and on-locations Ops will ramp up, while jobs like Marketing will wind down. My role is mainly Marketing (which includes securing sponsors), and I expect to be busy for many, many months. And if you're the con chair... you'll sleep when you are dead. ;)
A lot of convention planning is VERY time-sensitive, so if you think you're going to have periods of time where you won't be able to touch anything con-related, it's helpful to either wait or have trusted folks you can delegate to. Delegation is one of the most important skills to have in this biz -- even if you have the skill set to accomplish all roles in running a convention, you'll never have the time to do it all.
We're very fortunate at Shatterdome Atlanta to have people in very specialized jobs (and some roles, like Marketing, are shared by multiple people -- I have an awesome partner who does research and PR writing), so no one is too overwhelmed.
It's really a LOT of fun, but time-wise, consider con-running on par with a part-time job. Even "simple" things like loading up the Tumblr queue and responding to emails can take more time than you expect!
Running a convention can be a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of very hard work—and a lot of time—to make a successful con. Before you jump in headlong, here are some things you need to think about. This isn't an attempt to discourage you; just a reality check.
If you can read to the end of this post (it is 5 single-spaced pages in Word), you may have what it takes.
You cannot run a convention on good intentions alone. You need a team, you need a plan, and you need to be able to deal with the unexpected. This is a list of things to help you get your team and plan together. It is not exhaustive! Conrunning has a lot of nitty-gritty details, and this is very much an overview.
The extremely important yet really boring stuff:
Incorporation. You are running a business, so you have to tell the state and federal governments you exist. State and local laws vary, so do your diligence on this. The limited liability company (LLC) is very popular for conventions.
Money. Where is it coming from? Where are you going to put it? You will need a business bank account (which you can only open after you've incorporated). Get an official PayPal account linked to the business bank account. DO NOT USE YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS FOR ANY OF THIS. EVER. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. This is how you get your finances screwed up and money mysteriously goes missing. Don't take that chance.
Make a budget. Factor in the rental fees for your hotel space, program book and badge printing, marketing (printing fliers, selling web ads), paying for t-shirt printing, a/v equipment rental... then work backwards to get your badge price.
Any difference between your expenditures and income will have to be paid for: by the people who are owners of the LLC. Keep that in mind.
Timeline. It takes time to get all this stuff sorted out. Don't rush. Yes, we went from idea to con in 8 months, but I don't recommend it. The core staff has 30+ years of conrunning experience between us, so we had that advantage. A more leisurely timeline, like 14-18 months, gives you time to do all the necessary, boring background work and put on a good show.
Policies. Make sure you have rules for your con and post them. Have things like “A badge must be worn at all times” to “Weapons must be peace-bonded.” Take a look at other cons' rules and go from there. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. You may want a harassment policy and other policies to promote inclusivity. There are sources for those as well.
The important and less boring stuff:
Staff. It is very important to have a full staff! Your con is only as good as your team. Positive attitude and willingness to learn will get you far, but experience is also important.
You need the following at a minimum:
Chair: The person in charge. Much more detail below.
Operations director: The person in charge of making sure things happen.
Security chief: The person in charge of assembling a security team.
Treasurer/finance officer: The person in charge of money.
Hotel liaison: The person who negotiates the contract with and is your contact point to the hotel.
Programming director: The person who comes up with programming and makes the schedule.
Registration director: The person who maintains the list of attendees and takes care of badge labels.
Graphic designer/website maintainer: The person who makes the website look good.
Other staff you may find useful:
Artists alley coordinator: The person who contacts artists for artists alley and makes a layout map.
Dealers room coordinator: See above but for dealers.
Accessibility coordinator: The person who makes sure the convention space is accessible for people with disabilities.
Volunteer coordinator: The person who gets volunteers where they're most needed during the con.
Social media coordinator: The person who posts on tumblr/twitter/Facebook.
Marketing coordinator: The person who organizes where to advertise.
Guest liaison: The person who interfaces with the guests/their agents.
You need a reliable group of people. The key is reliable. Where do you find them? Friends and family are where most people start. Your friend who is late for everything or flakes out all the time? Don't ask that person to help you out.
Having a con staff composed entirely of your friends could also be a terribad idea. Friendships can end over disagreements. So look beyond your immediate circle, too.
Space. Where are you holding the convention? Does this hotel host other conventions? How much space do you need? You will also need to negotiate a room block with the hotel, and you need to sell 80% (usually) of the room nights, or you will pay for them yourselves.
READ YOUR HOTEL CONTRACT. Make sure you understand all the fine print.
For a first-year convention, start small. Dream big, but plan small. That way you won't blow your budget. For Shatterdome Atlanta, we went with a one-day event. We had the space from 10 am to 10 pm. For year two, we're going to 2+ days (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.) (Spoiler: we're coming back.)
Marketing! This is extremely important and kind of a dark art. If you know someone who does marketing for a living, ask them to help you out. Don't just depend on tumblr and Facebook to get the word out. Marketing requires making lots of connections—talent agents, comic shop owners, game studios, university clubs, website owners, corporate sponsors, other conrunners—and many of these connections start with the dreaded cold call.
Guests. Guests are expensive. For a guest of honor, you will pay airfare/travel expenses for them (and sometimes a guest), their hotel, a per diem for food, and, in some cases like actors, a performance fee. You may not be able to afford a guest your first year. That's OK. Maybe you can afford a local fan celebrity (a well-known cosplayer or artist in your fandom, say). You should still pay for their hotel and a per diem.
Practical matters
Running a convention takes a lot of time. As chair of Shatterdome Atlanta, I've put in 8-10 hours a week on con business in the last week or two. In the two weeks before the con this year, it was more like 16-20. But I was also acting as registration director and dealing with everything from indiegogo. (This involved a lot of cross referencing and spreadsheets and data entry. I enjoy cross referencing, and I am good at it. I am also a little weird.)
Other staff members have less of a time commitment in advance of the con, like ops, but they are busy during the con. Marketing and website stuff take a lot of time as well, but it's variable. Right now, marketing is busy, but it will taper off a bit then get busier.
If any staff member is having trouble getting their work done, it is important to have an environment where they are comfortable saying, “I don't have time to get this done.”
So you want to be the chair...
Just say no. I'm mostly joking. You have to be a particular kind of organized to be a good chair.
As chair, you have to be able to handle information on a full FIREHOSE setting, filter and sort it, and get it to the appropriate people. You have to be extremely organized. You have to like spreadsheets. You have to be able to make high-level organizational decisions.
Your job is to organize all the things. You need to know what needs to be done, set a timeline, assign people to do what needs to be done. Get regular (monthly or bimonthly) reports from the departments so you know what's going on and can make sure things are getting done.
You have to be able to delegate. You can't do everything, and that's OK! You have reliable staff (see above). Trust them to do their jobs.
For example, I know nothing about a/v equipment setup. But the operations director has 17 years of experience doing tech ops at Dragon Con. We made a list of things that needed a/v, and she took care of getting everything that we needed and setting it up. There was a problem with one of the audio connections, and she solved it then told me about it.
I am also not a graphic designer by any means, but our creative director is, and he's amazing.
You CANNOT be a micromanager. You will overwork yourself if you try, AND, as an added bonus, you will piss off everyone you're micromanaging. Don't be a control freak. Trust your staff, but make sure they're getting things done.
You will be the solutions person. The staff should be able to solve problems on their own then tell you when they're resolved, but sometimes they won't be able to resolve it. You have to figure out how to fix it. If a staffer gets busy because of life (job, school, illness), you need to find someone to cover for them (this person may be you until you recruit someone).
Google Docs (they're calling it Drive now, whatever) is your friend. Know it, love it, learn to use the sharing feature.
So you want to run programming...
This is a good place to start getting conrunning experience (she says without any hint of bias). If you've never done it before, here are some things to consider.
Your job is to come up with programming that will be of interest to your attendees and put panelists on them. There are a variety of ways to do this, ranging from putting out a survey and asking attendees for suggestions (and whether they want to be on said panel) to brainstorming everything yourself. The former works well for narrow-focus cons without invited (ie people you pay to be there) guests.
Larger cons may have multiple tracks of programming, such as literature, comics, and costuming. A smaller con will probably not need to have tracks.
Security
This is very important. You need a security team to make sure everyone in convention space is wearing a badge, to make sure nothing walks away from the artists alley, and to take care of any Situations that occur. (A situation may be a drunk attendee, an altercation, or harassment.) Make sure you have people who are good at this who are not also prone to ego tripping.
Operations
I admit, this is a bit of a black box to me, where I say “we need this” and J makes magic happen. If the chair is the brain of the convention, operations is the heart. They will make the room setup plans, from seating to airwall pulling to doing the a/v check. They are vital, and do not underestimate the need for experienced ops staff.
Everything else
The rest of the staff positions are pretty self explanatory, and this is already a monster post, so I won't go into detail on those.
Fake Q&A!
I think I want to run a con, but now I want to get some experience first. How do I do that?
Great! Find a convention in your area that you'd be interested in attending and look for their contact information. Sometimes there'll be a volunteers address, sometimes just general info. Tell them you'd like to help out, whether in a particular area or wherever they need someone. Most cons are always looking for staff.
I still want to run a con, but I don't want to wait. What should I do?
Find conventions in your area and ask if anyone with experience is willing to help you out. Have a plan already in mind when you approach them. Unless they're jerks, they'll probably say yes. They might not come on as staff, but they should be able to give advice.
Conrunner.net has a wiki of con planning. It's got a lot of information, though I don't know when it was last updated.
My ask box is open, and I'm willing to give what advice I can.
So do I get to hang out with celebrities at a con?
No, not really. You'll be too busy running the con. (I went to one panel at Shatterdome ATL. One. And the costume contest, but I was a judge.) You might be able to get your book/poster signed if you approach the guest in off hours (depending on the guest, and ALWAYS be tactful in doing this).
Why does anyone want to run a con, then?
If you get a good group of people, it is a hell of a lot of fun. It's hard work, but it's rewarding. You put on a show for some people who like the same thing you do, and they have fun. Reading people's tumblr posts and watching video reviews of Shatterdome ATL and seeing how much fun everyone had was just … it made 8 months of work worth every minute, every frustration.
You don't run a con for you. You run a con for the attendees.
(ps: thanks go to so-i-did-this-thing for giving this a pre-read for me and making a few suggestions for additions.)
As I said in my earlier discussion with mishamallow and lysanatt, I've been involved in science fiction conventions for about a decade now. They're fundamentally different from the commercial Supernatural conventions I've been to, mainly because they're organized by fans for fans, and they're not profit driven.
So, in two weeks, I'll be going to the Steampunk Festival in Gävle, this year's Swecon. It's probably going to be fun, with more cosplaying than Swedish fandom regularly does, between 3-500 people, and with Cory Doctorow as the guest of honor. There will be talks, lectures and panels, real panel debates with several knowledgeable members. (I was offered a spot on a Doctor Who panel, but declined due to my growing alienation. Also, because I'm not a one-trick pony.) There will probably be vendors, often book and art/craft vendors.
There won't be any professional photo ops. If I bring my books by the guests, I can get them signed for free. I'll have the opportunity to sit in the bar with the guests and just talk when they're not scheduled. (Last year, I had dinner with Jo Walton, and we had a very nice discussion about languages. At my first ever con, I managed to gross out China Mieville over a beer.) The guests are generally not paid, but they get room and board as well as travel costs. (Most of them were fans before they became authors, and they see cons as a valuable marketing opportunity.) Panelists might get a reduction of the membership cost, or maybe just a voucher for food or drink.
Would it be possible to do this for the Supernatural fandom? I say hell yeah!
*Decide on a location. Europe, definitely. (We're so underserved.) Why not Scandinavia? Both Copenhagen and Stockholm are easy to get to, and Copenhagen is a relatively large airport hub. The important part is that we have experienced con runners who are local to the area.
*Find a suitable venue. Preferably not a hotel. University halls during summer, or theatres/small conference centers/"culture centers". Schools can work, but there are usually too many restrictions and not quite good enough facilities. It's important that the whole place is accessible. We want a lecture hall/theatre big enough to seat 3-500 people, at least one smaller hall (1-200 people), good areas for socialization outside the halls, readily available food, backstage/green rooms, and a vendor area. The venue should be close to public transport and there should be hotels within reasonable travel distance.
*Decide on a date. I'd say between June and August, to make it easier for people who are in school or who have children in school to attend.
*Form a committee. This is important. People on the committee need to be low drama, but they don't need to be close friends. (In fact, it's preferable if the con isn't organized by a tight knit group of friends.) You need someone local (can't emphasize this enough), and the committee will probably need to meet a few times. (But most con business can be handled online.) I got involved in my first two con coms when I was 21, and I was on the young side. Experience is a plus, but having a few reliable but inexperienced people isn't necessarily a bad thing. These are the people who are going to handle money and contact with outside people as well as contact with fans, so make your choice wisely.
*Start planning:
How many members do we think we can get? (I think 3-500 is reasonable, but I might be optimistic.)
How much should we charge? (I think no more than 50 €, no graded memberships or reserved seating bullshit.) Do we have lower prices for minors?
What's the focus of the program? Do we want an academic track? (Yeah, duh!) Do we want parties, contests, program items with cosplay? Do we want a banquet?
Do we invite guests? And if so, who? (I, for one, would love to see Osric Chau or Kim Rhodes at a con like this, and I think they'd love it, too. You know they're feeling constrained by the limited interactions at for profit cons. I also think that some of the writers would be good guests.)
How can we get panelists, the people with something to say about Supernatural or the fandom, to come?
Vendors. I'm sure the Science Fiction Bookstore would appreciate a con like this (and I know people there). Other booksellers. Art and craft people. Random Acts.
If we do invite famous guests, do we get a professional photographer to do photo ops? (And where do we set them up?) I have an idea to bring in a photographer, and let people buy photo ops of their own cosplay. (Which could be done at a reasonable cost.) I'd say that we're not putting any restrictions on amateur photography of people with guests, other than consent.
How about alcohol? (This always comes up. It's easily solved if there is a licensed bar at the premises. Stand alone alcohol permits for the con itself is a money maker, but awfully complicated, and I wouldn't want anything to do with it.)
How about food? Do we have to set up our own mini cafe (with snacks, sandwiches and drinks), or does food services come with the venue? There need to be some form of food and drink at the venue itself, and preferably not outrageously priced.
How do we market this thing? We're aiming for fans, but not necessarily the most dedicated fans. We want the fans who are online, talking to other fans. We want the cosplayers. We want the ones who can't get other people to squee with in their hometown. We're not going for the star struck fans, because we're not the kind of con that could bring in the big stars, and we don't want to be. We're aiming for the fans who can afford a city weekend vacation, and we want to make them choose us instead of another getaway. (But we're making the con itself low cost enough that it's reasonable even for poorer people, if they can find cheap accommodation and travel.)
Then, there's security, gophers/volunteers, rules and codes of conduct, a whole damn lot of IP wrangling with WB, economy, guest liaisons, venue contacts, program scheduling, graphic design and printed materials, et c et c...
And if the con fails, the committee pays the price.
