Feedback - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly?

[Kuroyuki Toshio]

Good - Got some events going on, Harry Partridge! XD (Shame I'm too nervous to meet him :S ), Gaming tournaments.

Bad - Hardly anything for me to do, completely unsure how to get food within the building, came in late because my mate had to delay me.

Ugly - It felt dead after quite a while, so I decided to leave early since it's boring when no one's with you. :/

Yeah, next time I'm gonna come with my mate(s). I rather enjoy myself with some company than sit on my arse alone like a reject. ¬_¬

[Ferefire]

@Kuroyuki Toshio the best way to get the most-value from one of these events is to post in this forum beforehand and get to know the other attendees. That way you get to know them before you even attend.

.. Or bring friends along of course. Personally I would do both.

[Nightlance]

Ugly - It felt dead after quite a while, so I decided to leave early since it's boring when no one's with you. :/

Yeah, next time I'm gonna come with my mate(s). I rather enjoy myself with some company than sit on my arse alone like a reject. ¬_¬

That happened to me first time I went because I planned it all last minute but this time I stayed in the dorms and the people I was with really took me under their wing so to speak maybe give that a go as well next time?

[Ferefire]

Staying at the dorms certainly does help, since it kinda forces you to mix with others. So, that may be another consideration (particularly if you're coming from outside of London).

[Starcry]

I must admit. It was fun sleeping in the same room with people I didn't know too well. You were all a blast.

[Ferefire]

Alternatively, a good way to mix is to crew, though working at an event is not to everyone's tastes.

[thepspgamer]

agreed with mike, come to the dorms, i havnt had one person that has come, say they didnt love meeting all of the new people and mingling

it does you the world of good to talk and get to know people beforehand and makes the event that bit better

[Starcry]

Alternatively, a good way to mix is to crew, though working at an event is not to everyone's tastes.

i c wut u did thar.

[Ferefire]

i c wut u did thar.

We're awesome.

[Titch]

The Good -

- Upstairs events (Sunday especially) where awesome
- Organisation seems to have improved. Everything seemed to be running on time and showing up 15 minutes early for an event didn't result in 40 minutes of waiting around.
- Megaran and Masa-Kun where awesome.
- The chillout movies on Sunday where pretty good. Never say no to seeing some Ghibli movies.
- The vibe as per usual was good. It's a very personal con.
- When I mentioned that I had a headache one of the other attendees just came over and gave me some pain killers.
- Sunday night was pretty fun. Minus the techincal hangups.
- The 'green room' before getting on stage. Had some interesting chats before Dub that Anime and the Cosplay Auction (and the Masquerade as well)
- Entry was nice and smooth, once I had gotten past the initial confusion about the two queues.

The Bad -

- I had been kind of hoping with London Gaming con on the way that gaming would stop dominating the ground floor. The music was too loud for the panels. The anime screening was in a tiny area which was -also- nuked by the music. The quieter room was used for gaming. On sunday gaming took over everything downstairs. I think gaming is a part of conventions, but I still feel like LAC favours it just a little too much.
- The volume downstairs. Plenty of people mentioned this already. I'm pretty outgoing, as shy white dudes who spend all day in front of a computer go, but I still can't hold a conversation with a person I've just met in a loud bar. When I went out to the courtyard on Sunday evening there where a lot of people out there playing a drinking game. Probably because it would be bloody impossible to do something that involved being able to hear another human being inside. Later on a member of staff came out and said we had to come back inside or the event might be ended early since there was nobody inside. If it's the same venue again would it be possible to open up the side room later on for drinking and talking.
- Apparently I missed the Hentai panel which was cancelled anyway. Boo.

The Ugly -

- On MATCH DAY? Are you fucking kidding me? I was lucky enough to avoid the bajillion football fans milling around on Saturday because I arrived early. On Sunday I needed to go home to drop off my poor broken prop so I could come back later; only to find the entire transit system had been bought to it's knees.

On the subject of getting to know people, I usually come alone to conventions with the intention of befriending people (that and flitting around between events like a maniac). It would be kinda fun to do some sort of con-buddy system for lone attendees and first timers . It would make a good kick off point like the Cosplay Auction.

[azdeha]

That happened to me first time I went because I planned it all last minute but this time I stayed in the dorms and the people I was with really took me under their wing so to speak maybe give that a go as well next time?

That's cuz dorm 10 was made of win!

At Alcon our fort will be bigger and better..and stronger. You won't be able to bring it down so easily!

[Mio-Sempai]

The two days were pretty packed with things to do, or watch. The events on the stage were a mixture of hilarity, entertaining and interesting, the host (cosplaying as Haruhi on Saturday, and Leafeon? on Sunday) really did a great job on the stage (was a shame, didn't get to see her dance the Hare Hare Yukai!). The participants and the hosts knew how to get that crowd going to earsplitting levels xD.

Whilst there was a variety of anime merchandise on sale upstairs, I was slightly disappointed at the lack of manga, anime DVD's or anime CD's on sale, in fact there were virtually none. There were more of that sort of merchandise at the Film and Comic Con earlier in the month, but I guess it's more of a dealer thing rather than the organisers thing? Also the Pokemon BW Tournament early Saturday was badly organised, the members of the crew had no idea what the rules were and we (the participants) were basically left to sort them out for ourselves, and quite honestly the rules of any tournament that gets organised during the con should be pre-determined, even if it is by the participants on the forum.

Either than those small things, I really enjoyed myself, the crew in general were helpful and easy to talk to, and the events and talks were amazing. The steampunk and crossdressing talks were interesting. Hope I didn't sound too harsh in the second paragraph there =[. I'm definitely planning on coming to LAC4, I'm optimistic about next time. Great job to all the organisers, the crew, the guest speakers, the dealers, everyone!

[Pirate Timelord]

That's cuz dorm 10 was made of win!

At Alcon our fort will be bigger and better..and stronger. You won't be able to bring it down so easily!

INDEED!


And yeah.. I don't think anyone knew it would be match day when the venue was booked (I think both feb and this one were booked at July '10's LAC). Though I guess checking things like this closer ot the time and moving it would also work.

[Starcry]

The Good -

- Upstairs events (Sunday especially) where awesome
- Organisation seems to have improved. Everything seemed to be running on time and showing up 15 minutes early for an event didn't result in 40 minutes of waiting around.
- Megaran and Masa-Kun where awesome.
- The chillout movies on Sunday where pretty good. Never say no to seeing some Ghibli movies.
- The vibe as per usual was good. It's a very personal con.
- When I mentioned that I had a headache one of the other attendees just came over and gave me some pain killers.
- Sunday night was pretty fun. Minus the techincal hangups.
- The 'green room' before getting on stage. Had some interesting chats before Dub that Anime and the Cosplay Auction (and the Masquerade as well)
- Entry was nice and smooth, once I had gotten past the initial confusion about the two queues.

The Bad -

- I had been kind of hoping with London Gaming con on the way that gaming would stop dominating the ground floor. The music was too loud for the panels. The anime screening was in a tiny area which was -also- nuked by the music. The quieter room was used for gaming. On sunday gaming took over everything downstairs. I think gaming is a part of conventions, but I still feel like LAC favours it just a little too much.
- The volume downstairs. Plenty of people mentioned this already. I'm pretty outgoing, as shy white dudes who spend all day in front of a computer go, but I still can't hold a conversation with a person I've just met in a loud bar. When I went out to the courtyard on Sunday evening there where a lot of people out there playing a drinking game. Probably because it would be bloody impossible to do something that involved being able to hear another human being inside. Later on a member of staff came out and said we had to come back inside or the event might be ended early since there was nobody inside. If it's the same venue again would it be possible to open up the side room later on for drinking and talking.
- Apparently I missed the Hentai panel which was cancelled anyway. Boo.

The Ugly -

- On MATCH DAY? Are you fucking kidding me? I was lucky enough to avoid the bajillion football fans milling around on Saturday because I arrived early. On Sunday I needed to go home to drop off my poor broken prop so I could come back later; only to find the entire transit system had been bought to it's knees.

On the subject of getting to know people, I usually come alone to conventions with the intention of befriending people (that and flitting around between events like a maniac). It would be kinda fun to do some sort of con-buddy system for lone attendees and first timers . It would make a good kick off point like the Cosplay Auction.

Sadly the panel did get cancelled midway due to a complaint or two. Hopefully in the future it won't happen. Also I like the con buddie thing... although I usually go out of my way if I see people on their own to say hi. Btw I was the weird crew member in reg welcoming everyone through the door on the first day. Oh oh oh and if you ever get lonely again just come over to reg and we'll cheer you up. We managed to with a few others who felt like you. ;D

[UnluckyDolphin]

The good - Everyone was super friendly and looked pretty damn good.
- The events were pretty cool especially the cosplay bidding, 'whose line is it anime' and the Japanese game show thingy.
- Loved the downstairs bar, i think the alcohol made everyone alot more relaxed and chatty.

The bad - Not a big enough venue, was there for over 12hours and found myself just walking in circles.
- Not enough people, especially for the 'J-Rave'.
- Not enough merchandise stalls. I withdrew over £100 hoping to grab some cool anime stuff but ended up spending it all on booze! HA!

The ugly - Only 1 food stall!!! which closed early because he ran out of food!!!!

All in all had a fun night and looking forward to the next