Animazement - Sunday - Convention Organizers

In the 1930's it was "Let's put on a show!" In the 1990's it was "Let's put on a con." Anime fans around North America have spent the last decade renting hotels and staging conventions. Joe Vecchio (left) is one of the people who puts on Anime Weekend Atlanta, while Shawn Eason (center) and Becca Norman (right) handle Nan Desu Kon in Colorado. They got together to talk about how the rise of anime fandom and some indifference from the people who operated science fiction conventions led to the spread of anime convention.

Vecchio remembered the Star Trek conventions he attended a quarter-century ago. In those days, there were no home video recorders and the only presentations at conventions were on 16mm film or 35mm slides. One thing that hasn't changed since then is that the costume contest is still the highlight of the event.

"They care about these characters," Norman said about the youthful enthusiasm that leads fans to create elaborate costumes. "It's very interesting and flashy - the fashion show of the convention." The masquerades also are hard to organize, with the convention staff having to struggle to make sure everyone goes on stage in the right order, judges are chosen and the correct awards given out (there have been mistakes).

As Jingoro from AWA listened, the con organizers said it takes thousands of dollars to stage a convention, with most of that going to the host hotel to rent space and arrange for catering. Each hotel makes a different deal, and there can be a swing of thousands from one hotel to the other. The key, said the convention organizers, is filling hotel room with fans: the more people who book rooms at the convention hotel, the less the convention has to pay for the hotel. That's why convention organizers always encourage fans to stay at the official hotel.

Conventions aren't perfect, of course. A couple of anime conventions in 1999 were announced but canceled, another convention was announced, canceled and revived at the last second, and most convention events run chronically late. Still these conventions, unique expressions of the American youth culture, continue to grow - if they're managed properly. "You have to give people a good reason to come to your convention," said Vecchio. "If you let people have a good time, they'll keep coming."

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