Comments, Compliments, and Concerns for NDK 2011

[LadySarabi]

We here at NDK are always looking to improve the convention, as such we would love to hear your comments on how to improve, or what you loved about the convention right here on the forums.

Good, bad, ugly we want to hear them all. Please note replies to comments will be civil, no one on staff will be upset with you for your comments, and as such no other attendee replies should be rude or otherwise offputting. Any and all overly argumentative replies will be deleted. Also all other topics regarding feedback will be merged with this thread.

Some more tips for this thread.

Constructive criticism helps us to improve much more. If you didn't like something, please offer a suggestion to improve.
If you have a specific issue with a staff member or a volunteer, remember that we are all wearing badges. Please feel free to ask for a badge if needs be.
Any con specific hotel issues please feel free to bring up here in this thread; however, if you have very specific hotel issues, such as room issues, please address them with the hotel.

This thread will be unlocked at the conclusion of NDK 2011.

Thank you so much everyone for attending and for your feedback!

[Shrek2]

I had a lot of fun at NDK 2011, but unfortunately the hotel was too crowded and lessened the experience. I was unable to get into panels I wanted unless I waited an hour to an hour and a half in line. This is the first year I had to wait in line for the dealers room and the length of the rave's line was pure ridiculousness. I couldn't walk as freely and I was annoyed by how many staff members had to yell at me or order me around to just clear an area. Either the cap on the con has to be lowered or maybe the con could be expanded to the Hilton across the street. You could move the video game rooms or movie or anime showings or artist alley to the Hilton to make room and thin the crowds. Everyone pushing to get to the panels they wanted to go to dampens the con experience and makes people irritated.

I enjoyed the convention, but this year was by far the least enjoyable. The panels and content were just as good as always, but the place was overcrowded and turned one of the fun parts of the convention, stopping to take pictures and enjoys others cosplay, into a nightmare.

Hope this is taken into consideration while planning for NDK 2012

[AuroraDreamer]

I love attending NDK, but this year left me with a bitter attitude. I still had fun, but this years con was on my least favorite list of cons I have been to.

 :)Pros:
+++People helping with Elevators
+Panel options

 :(Cons:
-Long lines
-Long Wait Times
-Lack of space
-lack of any line organization
--------- Really Rude Staff! (Some were pleasant.)

Comments/Ideas:

• I have volunteered for conventions in CA. I realize it is frustrating towards the end of the con to actually want to be friendly and kind, but when you act like that the first day that is saying something. I have never been so offended by con staff before. They made me feel like I was a pointless person and was expendable as an attendee . After talking in lines with people too, I wasn't the only one.  I would recommend maybe doing training with your staff more in being friendly and hospitable.
• The next idea would be to tape lines for each panel room. At Fanime in San Jose, we used this technique to help lines organized and fair to everyone. Basically use blue scotch tape and create a maze of tape that helps people get in lines. It is easy to manage and if you have just maybe 1-2 staff depending on size of event, you are all set. Kind of like what you did for pre-reg, but more compact. Sometimes it annoys con-goers, but it is less frustrating then waiting in a line for a hour to be cut and not able to get in your panel due to lack of organized lines.
• Honestly I feel the venue is still too small, but there is not much anyone can do about that. The cap was a good idea, but I feel the con was still too huge for what was provided.
• I really loved how many panels you had available. I really enjoyed the Death Note Mafia, Wigs 101, Sewing 101, and Traveling to Japan for Less. They were fun and enjoyable. Also the plastic/paper model room was amazing! Staff in there was fun, friendly, helpful, and honestly enjoyed being in that panel. You guys were all amazing
• Also there is an app called "guidebook" that I would recommend checking out for making next years schedule. SacAnime used it and it was very convenient. Less paper and any smartphone/Tablet/app thing can check whats going on from where ever they want. I had no issues with schedules just thought you might want to check it out. 

I really hope that you guys can fix some of the issues that happened this year to make next year's awesome.

[ohki85]

Someone I know suggested that maybe we have lines start outside so they don't take up needed space in the halls.  They do this at Anime Expo and it is a lot hotter in Los Angeles around July 4th.  Then we can have someone with water manning the line to make sure nobody gets dehydrated.  Also as the line starts to move you let a few people into the building at a time.  I feel this may help reduce congestion in the halls.  There are plenty of doors and space outside the building that can help us use our space more effectively.

Ideas for line start locations:

Door near the Tower Elevators/VGR: This entrance is used less and there is a long sidewalk to wrap the line around on.  This line starting point would be great for the dealers room.

Door near registration: Use this area for the registration line.  You can wrap the line on the grassy area and along the building.

Door near Main Events:  Use this area for the huge lines for the AMV's and Costume Contest.  You can have them start inside and then wrap to the outside.

I did have a great year at NDK 2011 and I want to thank the Staff as well.  I appreciate all your hard work.

Thank You 

[luftwaffel]

The Art Auction was not on the schedule. I bid on a few things in the art auction and was not aware that the auction was at noon on Sunday. I thought it was the same as the Charity Auction (4pm on Sunday) and missed out. The items sold for much lower than they would have had this been more clear.

ETA a response to Kumiko Miyazaki:

Moving lines to outside wouldn't work if it were to rain. It would require (already limited) staff to be there during the hour+ of line gathering to pass out water. Also, the outside is for photo shoots.

[CO Redneck]

Here are the pluses

+ Moving the Video Game Room (VGR) to the closed restaurant and I know it was much cooler (temperature) there than the room upstairs in previous cons and a lot space.
+ Thu night checking for the badges
+ getting next year's badges online - no waiting in line to submit check and paperwork on Sun

Here are the minuses

- lines especially for the Sat night Rave
- no prereg only for the Dealer's Room

Suggestions
= Concerning the Anime Video rooms, can it be done where the rooms are next to each other. I know now if you want to go from one video room to another one, you have to go from one end to the other in the building.
= When a schedule is released, have the option for someone to download an Excel spreadsheet to where the data can be manipulated by the con goer - do colors on events that goer is interested in, print it where there is a Fri, Sat and Sun only schedules on three separate pieces of paper.
= Already remarked but could tape off areas for lines and through traffic like Fanimecon in San Jose
= Start the Rave earlier like 10pm instead of 12:30am

[Kayla]

First off, I want to say that I had an another amazing experience with NDK. I was very pleased to see that the attendance cap ended up working out in the end, despite everyone freaking out about it before. I made sure to thank NDK and hotel staff every opportunity that I could. I know dealing with thousands of attendees  all day can't be that much fun. ^^;;

All the good stuff-

Great idea on moving the VGR! I heard nothing but good things from all my cousins who frequent the room throughout the weekend!

I was beyond impressed with how smoothly the autograph sessions went. I went to two of Vic's signings, and a group signing on Sunday w/ Todd Hakerbon. (sp?) The staff was very adamant about keeping the lines in appropriate spots, and kicking out anyone that was trying to cut in line. I also greatly appreciated all the water. And a fellow con goer even ordered pizza and everyone chipped in.

The diversity of panels was wonderful. I loved Sewing 201, wig styling, and do cons have a future. The art show and model show was pretty wonderful to spend time looking at.

Not so many annoying people shouting nonsense! yay!

Not so good stuff-

Being a bit older, I end up getting annoyed by some of the fellow con goers. Mainly, just shouting nonsense or buttstratcher. But, like I said earlier, not nearly as bad as previous years...or, I could be getting more tolerant? ^^;;

The fact that people clearly start waiting for autographs and panels ridiculously early. I think lining up more than two hours for an autograph sessions and more than an hour for a panel doesn't make sense to me and I believe it ruins the chance for other who have many events they wish to see over the weekend. If possible, I would like to see staff or volunteers keeping an eye out to make sure there is a better chance for everyone to attend the panels and to get the autographs they want. I hated seeing people get kicked out of line or turned away.


The elevators were also quite stanky. xD



Overall, I had another fabulous con. I am very excited for the New Year's Ball and for NDK next year. I do hope within a couple of years a venue situation can be figured out. Great job to everyone! Staff, volunteers, cosplayers and everyone else who attended.

[theshadow]

Also there is an app called "guidebook" that I would recommend checking out for making next years schedule. SacAnime used it and it was very convenient. Less paper and any smartphone/Tablet/app thing can check whats going on from where ever they want. I had no issues with schedules just thought you might want to check it out. 

We really appreciate all the feedback and though I'm not going to touch base with the rest of your comments, I wanted to talk a little bit about this one.

Guestbook and all their kin are on our radar and under consideration. Currently we are looking into ways to streamline our panel/schedule management/building process. We had every intention of upgrading the itinerary system this year to include many new features, one most notable being a mobile phone app, but unfortunately since all of our staff are volunteers sometimes life happens which was the case this year and we fell behind in our plans.

We're going to regroup though and attempt to improve things for next year, after all part of the joy of volunteering for IT department of NDK is seeing the joy and utility the attendees get from the things we build.

[Jalakins]

My big concern this year was the crowdedness. I've been going to NDK for several years in a row now, and I have to say: this year was by far the MOST crowded I've ever seen it. Lines would start for events 2 to 3 hours beforehand. I was only able to get into 1 event this year! There just wasn't enough space by the time I got in line 1 hour or so beforehand. It was nuts! Some of the lines would wrap around the entire floor of the hotel. I know the arguments about other venues and such, but I think in a year or two, it may be time to seriously consider another venue. If I can't even get in to see the cosplay contest, AMV contest, or panels without having to spend more than half my day standing in line, it gets a little silly. I would literally have to leave a previous event early just to stand in line for the next event. I missed several events because I wasn't able to get in without having to stand in line for 3 hours. :/

Lines were not managed very well. There were a couple of times where some random kids would just cut in front of us in line because their "friends" were standing there. I think it may be wise to make a rule about "saving" spaces in line.

I do have some positive things to say though. I loved the VGR. It was nice and cool in there, there was plenty of room, and there were a lot of games. I was pretty impressed with that. I liked that the pre-reg line was divided into letters by last name. Though, I didn't like that if no one was standing in A-whatever line, that staff member just sat there and did not take other people from other lines. My suggestion: if one staff member has no one standing in their line, just take one or two people from another line until someone does end up standing in their line. Easy enough.

The Dealer's Room lines were actually pretty awesome. We ended up in a huge line for the Dealer's room on Saturday, but it moved very quickly. Fantastic job with that guys. I was really impressed. I do have to say though: I don't think anyone was really watching people come in and out on Sunday, because there was NO room to move in the dealer's room around 11-1. It was crazy.

Overall though, I had a fantastic time. Most of the people are pleasant and I loved being able to have a room in the hotel this year. It was fun! Saturday was really nuts because of all the people crowding in the hallways - but you know what, I still had a great time. Even standing in line could be entertaining if I wanted it to be. I want to thank the staff for all the hard work. It can't be easy managing 100 people waiting for an elevator. Or shouting out where the line ends/begins. Thanks everyone for a great con and I hope to see you next year. 

[YazooAirspace]

I have two major complaints (and a few minor complaints, but I'll get to those in a minute).

The first issue was with the lines for Vic's autograph sessions.  I was staying on the fifth floor, and there were times where me and my roommates had issues getting into/out of our room because people were blocking the doorway or the entire hallway itself.  And while the noise level wasn't unbearable, people got a little loud sometimes.

The second issue was the elevators.  I know there are issues with the elevators every year--elevators breaking or not working properly or whatnot, but this isn't about that, because that's more of a hotel issue.  I think it's a bit rude and a bit lazy to take an elevator up or down one floor--WITH EXCEPTIONS, such as inability to walk up/down stairs, large or bulky costumes, wheelchairs, carrying luggage, etc--if you're capable of walking up or down the stairs.  It also made the wait time for the elevators ridiculous, especially during the autograph sessions.

One of my minor complaints was inattentive people.  I know with a couple thousand people it's hard for anyone to do crowd control, but that should be something they do themselves.  I actually broke a few small pieces off of a prop of mine because people were not watching where they were walking or I had to push past some people to get where I was going because they wouldn't move, even after asking politely.  It was especially bad towards the west side of the Atrium, between the restaurant and Artists' Alley.  That 'hallway' was so congested most of the time that I ended up avoiding it a lot and just walking through AA instead.  I'm not sure the con can actually do anything about this, aside from yelling at people.

Also, the staff had better badges than the regular con attendees.  Fix that.

Most of my other complaints are directed towards specific congoers.

[mesona]

Comments
I would have to say lines!! lines!! lines!!!

I am with Jalakins on " no saving spots" more then once the line cut off right in front of me because a few minutes before the line moved friends met up.

Mark where lines should start. I.E DeathNote  two lines to get in and yet people who were not waiting in line walked right in cutting off both lines.

Convention Horror Stories,War Stories From the Conventions and Convention Defense Course were all kinda the same but from different people.

Concerns

During the DeathNote mafia there were two lines to get in and yet people who were not waiting in line walked right in cutting off both lines, Staff did stop them but this is what happened

staff"did you wait in line?"

cutters "Nooo....we just want to see whats in here"

staff lets them in.

said staff also said some very rude things about the person running the panel as I was let in because the panel host dared to move the seats around.

I think it was on friday before Coffee Samurai was showing an AMV the was very graphic and...rapey

Compliments
15 years down only 2050 life times to go! keep it up!

[M.Mouse]

This was a "short" con for me not many fun things to do i was hopping for more 18+ panels since i was looking forward to going to one this year since i couldn't last year and NDK had the fun 18+ panels. Due to all the lines i didn't go to many of the panels i wanted to go to.

+Complaints+
      -where the photo shoot schedule was. No one could find it and i didn't find it till Sunday and it wasn't till i was leaving. Maybe next year you could place it on the panel/video schedule so that everyone can see it since everyone takes one and not everyone is on the forums so they can't see when and what everything is.
      -The staff made it very clear on the forums that they would be checking for badges this year but i walked around down stairs for about 3 hours not knowing that i had forgotten my badge and i even talked to staff and walked right past them and not one had asked me where my badge was and when i realized it i went to go get it came back down and saw about 30 people that didn't have one and weren't just getting to the con.
      -Most of the staff was very very very rude this year. One of them made me take off part of my cosplay cause they didn't believe i could see out of it when i was just standing in the vic line in the front of it, sitting down. When i had said that i could and i had a guide to help me as well and yelled at me every time i tried to place it back on.
      -I know there's not much you can do about this but, When we got to the panel we were running the staff let us in but when we started walking into the room to set up the whole line waiting for our panel yelled at us that we were cutters and get the back of the line and just continued that until i just yelled that we were running it followed by a staff member yelling at me to not yell.
      -There was a point where there was NO water any where and my group gave up looking for it and had to get water from the bathroom sink

[Skrae]

We are aware of the problems with lines, unfortunately we have a limited amount of staff and only so many volunteers.

On the topic of the removal of the prereg line for dealers room, we decided with the cap and the amount of people who now prereg, there isn't much benefit to the line. It was great when we had less people and far less people preregging, but now there is not much benefit.  Plus it would only add to the congestion caused by the line.  Instead of one long line, we would have two still long( but not quite as long lines) side by side.  So instead of spreading the congestion out over a large space, with the prereg entry we would have a large concentration of congestion out by dealers, vgr, and registration, not to mention entry to the elevators and upper mez would be hampered as well.

[Aoisora]

Kk, first I'd like to say thanks to the staff and volunteers who helped make the convention happen. =D It looks like it takes quite a bit of work and I love being able to go every year.

Pluses:
+ Staff helping with the elevators. (Helped things move decently smoothly.)
+ Thursday night badge pick up.
+ Guest list.

Minuses:
- Rude staff. This was my (and my friends') biggest issue. Most of the staff I saw was great, but at the same time there were multiple people who were EXTREMELY rude, impatient, took their stress out on the con goers, and generally were not nice. (One of my friends ran into a situation where he was kicked out of a "high traffic area" with no one in it, just for stopping to say hi to a friend. That's extreme. On top of that, there was no kindness to the tone of voice of the staff member, there was no "please" or "thank you", simply "move.")
- TOO CROWDED. I think the cap had a good deal to do with this, in all honesty. I followed the cap topic and I know why it's in place, but I'm not so sure it's working.
- Obnoxiously long wait lines.
- There was no photoshoot schedule/location/time out for people to see this year. I don't know who's in charge of that, but I was not pleased with that lack of information.
- Massive disorganization.

I've read some of the previous comments and I agree fully with moving some of the lines (Dealer's Room and a few of the other enormous lines, specifically...) outside instead of wrapping them around the convention. In my opinion, this would help with some of the spacing issues. Now, I did like how the lines for the Vic Mignogna autograph session on Saturday went. The staff who were helping out there were amongst the friendlier, kinder staff at the convention. They were dealing with a high-stress job and they did amazingly well. They also did their job keeping the hotel room doors open so that people could get in and out of them. Anyways... Overall, this didn't have much of the relaxed NDK feeling that I'm used to. It seemed like people left, right, and center were much too stressed. I had fun, but it was too crowded and there was too much going on for as small a venue as the Marriott.

[CO Redneck]

Definitely have to agree.

One main reason I go out of my way from avoiding having my room in the Tower. Also with the Tower, it is a bad design to where the only option is if you want to go above the Mezzanine Level is you must use the elevator. Stairs are not an option. I know the hotel frowns on the use of stairs but also having the stairs available would reduce wear and tear on the elevators and the cost associated with it. The Atrium side, stairs is an option by the front desk and one other when the door is propped open by the salon.

Concerning inattentive people, some people complain about staff yelling about moving along, I can understand the Staff's viewpoint of keeping the paths clear.

[ SNIP ]

The second issue was the elevators.  I know there are issues with the elevators every year--elevators breaking or not working properly or whatnot, but this isn't about that, because that's more of a hotel issue.  I think it's a bit rude and a bit lazy to take an elevator up or down one floor--WITH EXCEPTIONS, such as inability to walk up/down stairs, large or bulky costumes, wheelchairs, carrying luggage, etc--if you're capable of walking up or down the stairs.  It also made the wait time for the elevators ridiculous, especially during the autograph sessions.

One of my minor complaints was inattentive people.  ....[ SNIP ]....  they wouldn't move, even after asking politely.  It was especially bad towards the west side of the Atrium, between the restaurant and Artists' Alley.  That 'hallway' was so congested most of the time that I ended up avoiding it a lot and just walking through AA instead.  I'm not sure the con can actually do anything about this, aside from yelling at people.

[theshadow]

- There was no photoshoot schedule/location/time out for people to see this year. I don't know who's in charge of that, but I was not pleased with that lack of information.

NDK doesn't organize any of the photoshoots. These are organized and ran by the attendees. We hang up time schedules when they give them to us. If however they don't then we don't have that information to post. We apologize for the inconvenience about that.

My apologies to attendees and Darkshardyuki for not knowing we did have them. We didn't have them in Operations and felt just as annoyed as attendees for not having any information to hand out.

[darkshardsyuki]

+Complaints+
      -where the photo shoot schedule was. No one could find it and i didn't find it till Sunday and it wasn't till i was leaving. Maybe next year you could place it on the panel/video schedule so that everyone can see it since everyone takes one and not everyone is on the forums so they can't see when and what everything is.

Minuses:
- There was no photoshoot schedule/location/time out for people to see this year. I don't know who's in charge of that, but I was not pleased with that lack of information.

Sorry about not getting the photoshoot schedule up until noon on Saturday, that was my fault. I've been completely swamped IRL and wasn't able to make the posters until Saturday morning and wasn't able to make them before the con like I have in past years.

[theshadow]

I would like to remind all attendees that you are more than welcome at any time to come to Operations and file a complaint about any volunteer, this includes those volunteers with Staff badges. We take these complaints very seriously and have even pulled an individuals eligibility to volunteer for NDK.

Never be afraid to come let us know how you feel about anyone who represents the staff. Taking down their name will quickly allow us to resolve the issues you may have without things escalating to a point where you as attendees or we as the convention have to take drastic measures.

We strive for excellence and we can only achieve it through the efforts of our volunteer staff and attendees alike.

[theshadow]

Also, the staff had better badges than the regular con attendees.  Fix that.

Could you elaborate on this? Was it the art you felt was better? This is a bit too vague to provide an adequate response about unfortunately.

[theshadow]

I've read some of the previous comments and I agree fully with moving some of the lines (Dealer's Room and a few of the other enormous lines, specifically...) outside instead of wrapping them around the convention.

Unfortunately this is probably not going to happen and not because we want you all to be crammed inside like sardines but because the weather around the time of the convention is a bit erratic and unpredictable. For example, this year we had amazingly good weather. Overall not to hot or cold but what if it's raining, or snowing? It would be irresponsible of us to force attendees to stand outside in such circumstances.

Great suggestion though, keep them coming.