Idea for 2011 attendance.

[Katie]

I agree with needing to do something about photoshoots and such, but purhapse having them meet outside is a workable solution.  

In the last meeting we had at the hotel I walked around with another staffer looking for areas where we could have people meet both inside and outside the hotel (since as you mentioned wheather is a factor here). I'm working on getting a nice map up in the photosection thread to help get people to less populated areas for their photoshoots. I just haven't been able to get to it yet.


These comments are from what I experinced as a fan at Starfest/Comic con as a convention(s) that's split into two hotels.
I know that even though I've wanted to go to comic fest for two years in a row now I think I only went over there once this year for maybe an hour before it closed because I kept forgetting it was over there when there was so much else going on in the main hotel. Plus it was a bit inconvient having it in a seperate hotel. I don't know if anyone has gone over to the Hilton Garden which is a very nice but very tiny hotel. I cannot stress the tiny part enough. I think their biggest meeting room which served as the dealers room for comic con was probably smaller than most of the meeting rooms at the Marriott. One person in costume alone with no photos being taken could block the hallways because they were also very tiny. Whatever gets put over there won't get much attention, and you can't put anything big over there because there's no space for anything big. It worked for comic con because of the size it is but if it gets any bigger they'll have to look for another space for it, cause they were really pushing it with what they had.

[Greg Hines]

I think their biggest meeting room which served as the dealers room for comic con was probably smaller than most of the meeting rooms at the Marriott.

They have one large room (72' x 50', or 3,600 sq. ft.) that can be divided into three equal-sized rooms (24' x 50', or 1,200 sq. ft.). With theater-style seating, they maintain that they have room for 400 seats, or 133 for each of the smaller rooms. (One of the three rooms could be divided into two, but that wouldn't be a sensible use of that space.)

By comparison, our dealers room is 60' x 170', or 10,200 sq. ft.; the VGR is 28' x 53', or 1,484 sq. ft.; and our largest panel room (formerly the Art Show room) is 21' x 62', or 1,302 sq. ft.

It's not tiny by any means, but it wouldn't exactly be an equal alternative to our main events room (102' x 120', or 12,240 sq. ft.). It's certainly no panacea. The total capacity of the Hilton Garden Inn space would only be about 5-6% that of our total attendance numbers--not a particularly impressive number, at least when the goal is relieving congestion at the Marriott.

[.Mitsu:Vision.]

Now has anyone looked at the colorado convention center? Or maybe another location?

[Execdirec]

Now has anyone looked at the colorado convention center? Or maybe another location?

Take a look at the Q&A in our announcements section for all questions about the attendance cap.

Attendance Cap Announcement

[RaeWolfDemon]

Almost all conventions i have seen have caps...most notably comicon ... its not that big of a deal as long as you pre register anyway..like i did for con and I booked my room the first day the lines opened.. I for one am for the cap because I like getting to see a majority of the panels and contests..wich actually is a huge draw for con goers I am sure..
 if I have to wait in line twice (amv and cosplay) then i'm cool with that....
Then again living 20 years next to Disney world and Universal Orlando... ive become used to waiting two hours for a 5 minute ride (tower of terror) and an hour sometimes for food...
because that is not the case here, i appreciate what the staff has done to try to make things run well and for me last year it was an enjoyable experience...

[M.Mouse]

Sorry if this was already said but how about for those who register online get there passes mailed to them so they can get the fun started the minute they enter and that will make more people register online. If they forgot it at home just make them pay a $1 (or something like that) to get a pass for the day so they can still have fun.

[theshadow]

Sorry if this was already said but how about for those who register online get there passes mailed to them so they can get the fun started the minute they enter and that will make more people register online. If they forgot it at home just make them pay a $1 (or something like that) to get a pass for the day so they can still have fun.

Though an interesting idea it is not one we would take advantage of this is because of the following reasons.

First we don't mail out badges because if we did we know that a good percentage of individuals could misplace and/or lose and damage their badges before the convention which would cause all kinds of issues.

Secondly, we've had issues in the past of individuals making illegal copies of badges. Since we wish to minimize this abuse it is best to make it so that they have to be picked up at the convention. Since illegal copies of badges takes funds away from the convention and thus provides less funds to keep the convention going and growing.

Lastly, sending out over 1500 (our current rough pre-registration estimate) letters would cost a bit as such it might come to us having to increase prices just to cover this. Granted this is probably the least likely but it is still a concern.

Again, we appreciate the feedback and ideas.

[ImaNoodle]

Wtf?

I read this whole forum post O___O
thought I'd announce my accomplishment

[William]

Take a look at the Q&A in our announcements section for all questions about the attendance cap.

Attendance Cap Announcement

I think any further conversation should be done in the Q&A thread that Exec linked above