A Few More NYCC Thoughts……
Well gang, it’s been a weird week. I was talking with Ice Pick (aka Larry) from the NYCCC team and we compared how we felt this week to a constant low grade hangover. It’s weird to all of a sudden be done with a huge event that you’ve worked on for nearly a year. Strange. It’s like postpart-y-um depression. Sorry for the lame word play.
A few quick hits for you.
Kids Day – We had nearly 3,000 kids under 13 at the show on Sunday. Wow.
The Blog – I’m now gonna start writing about another medium, the global business of publishing via BookExpo America heavily and Peter is already starting to write on the Anime Fest. I had a comment form a friend that I should break the blog up into multiple platforms for the different events/businesses, but I have to say, I’m really resistant to do that. I know that readers have specific interests, so is an Alex Ross fan really interested in the translation trends of American fiction in Belgium? Maybe, maybe not, but someday, those trends may bring Ross’s work to Belgium. The point of this blog – Medium At Large - is that comics, books, rights, authors, artists, anime, graphic novels, film, tv, booksellers, comic retailers, librarians all have a common thread and it’s creativity and the written words in varying forms. The ideas are being applied in different mediums, but all these branches spread from the same trunk.
Tell me if I’m right or wrong on this by your comments and your readership.
The Show – Gang, the team worked our asses of to build a good show for all of you, and I know we fell short in some areas, but it was not because we didn’t care or didn’t try. A big one is the ticketed signing events. This will be changed, we will get it right next year. I talked to a lot of you on site and I’ve talked to a lot of you via email to get your feelings and your ideas of how we can improve this. With your help will make it better for all next year. I’m sorry for those of you that were frustrated and lost out on a chance to meet the person you really wanted to meet.
The same can be said about the crowding in the conference areas. I’ve got a meeting with Javits tomorrow about space for 2009, 10 and beyond.
Guys, I am not going to get it right all the time and some of you saw that. But I do want everyone reading to know that my goal and what I work towards is to build a kick ass event for all of you. I reply to nearly every email, every call and every blog comment I get to show you how committed we are to making NYCC the best con out there. So thanks for your help in doing that and if you’ve got ideas or suggestions, by all means let me know, we are already starting to build NYCC 2009!
-L
15 comments:
I'd prefer you leave the blog as is. I can't make it to Book Expo this year, but I'm already considering it for a vacation trip next year.
The content is seasonal, so it's already separated rather well.
just my thoughts!
Shawn
Hey, it's your blog, so you have it the way you want it.
That said, as geeky as I am, even I couldn't bring myself to read all the "con" stuff. I'm here to learn more about BEA. I wonder if there is a way through tagging or pages to help those like me find just what I want to find. ComicCon and BEA are very different audiences, and you're not always going to find folks who want to read about both.
Maybe I'm just jealous that Comic Con sounds so much more interesting that BEA this year? I'd much rather tail Stan Lee than stand in my BEA booth working. :-)
though i've never been to the book expo (and don't even know if its open for us 'regular folks') i'll pop in here whenever i can to keep up with whatever is going on.
personally i find reading about the anime things comimg up and the book expo interesting whether i'm able to go or not;)
I'd really like to see an official NYCC message board, mostly so I can find out ahead of time if there are going to be other people dressed as GI Joes before I get there. But I bet there'd be a ton of uses for one.
Other than that, my only real issue was the ticketing thing, and the prices of food at the event. But I know you can't help out with that last one, and you're working on the other, so don't worry about it.
Seriously, it was a GREAT show. Well worth the trip from England, and I'm already counting down to NYCC '09!
Yeah, the ticketed signings were certainly a debocle. it was a miracle no one got hurt, and it did not help matters that the offical blog of the promoter of the show urged people to make a mad dash. Ever hear of something called liability?
Lance- I was the guy who was directed to the wrong place by red-shirt NYCC staff in my attempt to get a Stan Lee ticket. I know I would have been at the very front of that line if I was sent to the right place. I called you on your cell minutes later, and your "nothing I can do about it" attitude was a big disapointment to me. OF COURSE there was something you could have done. You could have checked my story with the person who sent me to the wrong place, and worked something out for me. To boot, you put me on hold during our conversation so you could take another call, and you never came back!
Is there any reason that lower lever guys like Brian Hitch and Grant Morrison were deemed worthy of Guaranteed Signature status, while your #1 guy was not??
Very disapointing, and very contrary to the way you come across in this blog.
if you want to hit me back at DioCooper@aol.com, feel free.
DioCopper: Give Lance a break. Sure, he may say that he'll answer every call but don't expect him to micromanage every attendee's problems during convention hours. Remember, he probably had to deal with a bunch of other convention issues that popped up out of nowhere.
That being said, I agree that the autograph ticketing process was awful. I too wanted a Stan Lee autograph ticket but was told by a bunch of yellow shirts on Sunday morning that there were no more tickets. Unfortunately, there was no sign by the ticket line nor a higher-level red shirt by the variant stage to confirm their story.
Instead of wasting time in line for a ticket that I might not get, I decided to have some fun and attend Stan's panel instead.
Despite the autograph ticketing process and the awful crowding in the meeting room hall, I had a very good time.
Ellen Gerstein - ! Great post.
DioCooper - No excuses, I should have gotten back to you on site. My apologies adn I'll get with you via email to apologize "in person". As for liability, etc - I have aknowledged we need to revamp the system and committed to doing so.
As for who got guarenteed signing status, that was due to what different artists were willing to do.
L
I have yet to hear back on my question, if you feel more comfortable emailing me please do.
I heard that NYCC counts 3-day badge as three people and I got word that the IGN Theater only seated 1500-1700 not the 3000 that was claimed. If this is accurate isn't that a little disingenuous to say you had 64,000 people.
alchem13t@hotmail.com
Lance,
I dont think I saw this question previously. What happened with the Poster that the Kuberts worked on? I was hoping to pick it up, either through the site or at the convention.
Thanks,
Mark
I am new to this. I just registered for BEA but I like reading about your other events too.
I am just impressed you do these huge events within 6 weeks of each other, and this year it's bi-coastal too! Thanks.
I say You should keep it as is. after all, it's all about you and what you are trying to promote. And it never hurst to expose a fan of one thing to something else, they might like that too!
oh yeah...let the book folks find out about comics and anime and let folks who might never stumble into a big book outlet know that there are other forms as well:)
I know i kept looking around for a guy in a red comicon tee that might be lance but never found him. Of course with the crowds the only way i would have seen his name was if it was on the back of his shirt!
I don't have any big complaints about this year...though i realllly hope that next year they take the room that we (the humble peons who didn't have connections nor the big bucks to buy the fancy tickets to get in before the set) were waiting in line in and use that space for the exhibition area as well. AND move the variant stage downstairs where you can actually hear the things going on (and not all the noise going on around it). But those are minor things.
The big thing i'd like to see is to have the waiting area ropes be closer together (that is, not have space for folks to lay down and to have the lines be 6-10 people across). Sun was the only day i got there where i wasn't halfway through the first section of the line (and i was getting there at least two hours before things opened)but there were folks bounding up to the front ahead of those of us who had been there for hours and THEN complaining because someone else got there before them(and were standing a few feet ahead of them).
And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't throw things into the crowd waiting in line. If you want to give those who are waiting in line a treat do what was done the 2nd year and go down the line (which is only one or two deep) and hand out the tickets to the ticketed shows. (that would also help folks from getting stampeded, though i didn't see it...i knew i wouldn't be fast enough to get to the back of the room so why bother?). And if the ticket thing doesn't work (or isn't going to be used next year) hand out the little 'goodies' that way.
It sure beats getting hit in the head several times by somebody behind you because they're trying to grab some plastic figure you're able to buy inside the con for $5! ( I had a headache for three days because of that incident, thank God for liquid ibuprofin!)
I'm disabled and use a motorized scooter to get around so the thing I'd most like to have is even wider isles next year. The other side of the Javitt's could totally have been used this year to spread things out even more. For some odd reason the NYCC is the one place in the world people DON'T move out of my way but actually walk into me. So it would help in that respect at least.
I'd also think there should be more advertisement or promotion of the smaller things that go on. I had no idea there were costume contests and I would have really liked to be a part of them or at least see them. I didn't see it listed anywhere and it wasn't until later I found out they were going on all the way in the back of the show floor.
Lance, when I heard that Reed Expo was hosting NYCC, I was excited, having attended many BookExpos. (I can't wait for that wonderful day when NYCC is the same size as BEA NYC!)
However, after the third year, I am surprised that methods from BEA have not transferred over to NYCC.
Why aren't tickets handed out near the registration booth, on a first come, first served basis (with a limit per badge)? By moving the give-away to the early morning, you spread out the chaos over a longer period. Using the schedule boards found at BEA, attendees can see at a glance which events still have tickets, and then decide if they wish to wait in line. If done right, NYCC gives out all the tickets before the show floor opens.
As for your blog, write what thou wilt. I scan everything, but don't read it all, and rarely venture onto the comments.
(And Ellen... are you CRAZY? BEA LA has a WHOLE DAY of programming for graphic novels! Starting with a $25 breakfast with Jeff Smith and others! And this being BEA, there will be FREE BOOKS galore! And... here's the best part... innocent booksellers, librarians, and publishers will be seduced into wonderful sequential medium of comics! Man, I remember ABA LA in `97... Marvel, DC, Viz, Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, and Spawn. That. Was. It. Oh, and Stan the Man will be there, too, at the Atlas booth.)
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