[Slavan K. Guiser]

I found a couple of different things that I think would make Anime Oasis topnotch!

1. Air! The convention felt very stuffy. If AO is renting that huge, open arena, it needs to be used for more stuff! The entire far side of it and the floor pit could've been used more effectively to host multiple events during the day.

A suggestion my friends and I discussed was putting the Artists' Alley on that back stretch to put a focus on it and make it more accessible to the congoers. That way people headed to the main events can have easy access to go and take a look. Plus, without the rooms, it'd be easier to maneuver and browse all the fantastic artists that were there!

2. Information! There's a ton of amazing events on offer, but most of the staff had somewhat of an uniformed air about them. Also, con operations was in general a little on the empty side for most of the con. Finding information on where to sign up for things was a little difficult.

Maybe, the con, as it grows, could use some more staff members, plus a little more information shared between them. It seemed like as I asked more and more about certain things, I kept hearing: Talk to Jeremy. Jeremy's quite busy and difficult to find.

Another thing that might help is making Staff Members more visible. Like T-shirts with "STAFF" written in bright, obvious markings. Sometimes it was difficult to find staff as it is.

3. Local Dealers! There's a ton of local comic book shops and other appropriate merchants in Boise who I'm sure would love to make the dealer's room huge! I loved having Hobbytown USA there, plus being able to go out to the home store to check out more.

Maybe inviting places like Captain Comics, All About Games, Orient Market, and Costplus World Market might want to bring some of their selection over to the con. Plus, getting local places means that they might be willing to donate prizes for all the awesome events there.

4. Games! The arcade was AWESOME, but felt a little lacking in two-player playability. But it was nice and fun. Solving that one is a little more difficult. However, again, maybe approaching a local arcade to see if they would be willing to donate time on the machine for good advertising could help on this.

However, I did notice the lack of a game room! I saw people playing card and board games. I remember when Anime Oasis had some dedication to other pursuits. Maybe that could make a return. See some Role-playing rooms/sign-ups, maybe a couple of card tournaments.



Also, lastly, I'd just like to give a shoutout to everyone who operated the Tea Party Room. I attended the Goth Lolita and British Accent tea parties and had a BLAST. It was a different atmosphere from the rest of the con and brought a touch of class and enjoyment to the weekend. I hope to see them doing it again next year. Really great job you guys.

[Jay]

[creamyjeremy]

I have quite a lot of information to take in from Saga, there will be quite a number of changes as I figure out what worked/ didn't work and what was lacking/needs improvment.

Well before the con, I am aware of many potential problems and many times there are potential problems no matter what options I choose.

There will be layout changes (exactly what is yet to be determined). The arena will remain for main events only. The stage will be moved to better suit the utilization patterns we had. In the future, attendance growth should shake any feelings of underulitization.
In part this design is to retain the small convention feeling in the hotel side with the major event feeling in the arena.

Any fault on staff is my fault. We had some high level turn over between Evo and Saga and the staff structure was full of people doing jobs they hadn't done before. As we move forward, staff will have a greater hand in the depts and more independant movement. This year, I feel more responisble for carrying the burden while staff became more familiar and comfortable in their roles.

There are very few local dealers who have shown interest. Most local dealers in the past have been brought in on reduced or even free pricing on tables.
With the absolute focus on anime, many local dealer are not well stocked for this sort of event. Having had (and still having) a waiting list of pure anime/japanese dealer makes striking a deal with a local store that is somewhat interested a tough job.
Anime Oasis strictly does not accept any outside donations of prizes or advertising.

The video game room was lacking our 2nd Rush the Rock driving game (due to it breaking shortly prior to the convention.) And the Tekken Tag game was DOA as well (I am currently working on repairing both.)
Any new arcade machines this year would probably focus on multiplayer, but availablility in the Boise area varies.
Outside arcade vendors would cost us / charge you and purchasing games is a far more cost effective solution.

Other types of gaming have traditionally proved nearly worthless. However, consideration may be given to future growth and may result in a small room allotment for Final as a test.

The tea party room seemed to meet the needs of the current fan base and will be returning next year.

Overall, there was quite a lot of things that weren't 100% this year. At first, we felt the rigidness of having a new venue, which took a few days until we started to get more relaxed. I feel siginificant improvements are in process just by evaluating this year and continuing evolution.

Hopefully, some of your concerns can be put to rest. I know not everything I said was what you wanted to hear, but hopefully, I can prove the success of my ideas.

[Slavan K. Guiser]

[Blue Bear]

[Kenchin]

This one thought saga was perfect.
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This one is pleased to be part of this forum as Anime Oasis is this one's favorite place to be EVER!