Fandom Fest: How Not to Run a Con
When we were down at the Louisville Arcade Expo this past spring, Claire and I saw a flier for Fandom Fest and knew we wanted to go. Four months later our bags were packed, our room was booked, and we headed south to Louisville. I was particularly excited because this would be my first big convention. However, the problems started almost as soon as we arrived.
We made our way over to the Kentucky International Convention Center, and things seemed odd from the beginning. We were given a bracelet (similar to what you get at a fair, or a derby bout) to wear for the entirety of the weekend instead of a badge (a small thing for sure, but the first sign this would not be a regular convention). We were not given a map, or any direction as to where to go, so we made our way to room 2D because we had heard several other guests make mention of it.
Room 2D was indeed where we wanted to be. It was the main vendor hall, and while we were there we asked about programs. They had apparently been printed incorrectly and were not available. We were informed we could access them online, but when I tried either the site or the cellular network was crawling under the traffic. When we got to our hotel room later that night, we found out we were being pointed to PDFs. There was no free WiFi in the convention center, so these were intended to be PDFs downloaded under a cellular network. Not a pleasant experience to say the least.
We scoped out the vendor hall for a bit, and then made our way over to the Galt House to see what of the convention was going on there. The Galt House itself had fantastic maps of the hotel you could use to find out how to get to events. We used this as our guide on Friday Night. However, as we used the maps to find various Fandom Fest rooms, we found the rooms to be empty. In one room where there was only a single vendor, we learned that most the Galt House vendors were stuck in the check-in line. This seems a bit ridiculous to me. Have a separate check in for your vendors, preferably away from attendees. Without vendors, you lose a big part of your convention.
Friday night wasn’t a complete bust. It was disorganized and hard to find things sure, but we did find an amazing show to see (look for a post about that this week), a good cheap buffet for dinner, and were able to get checked in quickly. On Saturday however, everything went to hell.
Lines on Saturday morning. No idea where to stand.
We woke up Saturday and downloaded the program to my iPad. Immediately we were confused. We looked under the “events” page to see what was going on and while rooms and times were listed, we didn’t know which building. It’s great that the Masquerade Ball is in “Grand Ballroom A” but is that the convention center or the Galt House? No matter, we knew our first task was to buy Claire’s fiance a photo op with the Boondock Saints. This was where the disaster started. No one in a staff shirt knew where the line was. Or what each line was. Or sometimes even what you were asking. Our strategy ended up being Claire stands in line, go to the front to ask what the line is for and move as appropriate.
We finally got our photo op purchased but Claire’s finace was still in the mess that was the Fandom Fest ticket line. The lady working the photo op counter was the only one who seemed competent, when we told her our dilemma (we thought a couple hours would be plenty of time to do all of this) she made sure he was able to get his pass for the convention. Now it was time to get the photo.
We went to get in the photo line, and it turns out the online programs were incorrect. The photo we thought was at one, was actually at noon. We were trying to find the appropriate line at noon. Again, staff had no idea what was going on. In fact, we asked one gentleman where to stand and he said “here” I replied, “In front of all these people?” He said “Yes.” You read that correctly, staff told us to cut the line. At the end of the day we got the picture but it was an unnecessarily stressful process. I understand lines. I understand waits. I don’t understand the disorganization. And no staff its not the amount of people. You don’t hear these stories out of SDCC.
The other major thing we wanted to do on Saturday was to see the John Barrowman Q&A, originally scheduled for 4:00pm. Thankfully, I follow John Barrowman on Twitter because I learned from his personal twitter account that it had been pushed to 6:00pm. His Q&A made everything worth the hassle for us. But even Barrowman addressed the horrible disorganization. He told everyone who didn’t get photos they paid for to get their money back.
What was the weirdest thing however, is the social accounts of Fandom Fest were silent. No tweets. No Facebook posts. No nothing to tell people when things were rescheduled and moved. You have the resource. Use it!
There were some good parts, and I’ll post those and my photos later. But overall, this con was a disaster. We will not be coming back. We aren’t the only ones who feel that way either.
Update: Photos from the con are now up on Flickr and Facebook.
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Nicole is a Software Quality Engineer, music collector, and chronic project starter. In her free time she enjoys reading trashy romance novels, catching up on her game backlog, and bourbon.
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Same thing happened with the programs in 2011. I’m beginning to think this is a usual thing for them – that they don’t like programs and just don’t bother.
What was the worst part to me was that the programs they pointed us to online weren’t even correct! There were different times and places listed for the same event, in the same program! I understand things may be move around but they didn’t even start out correct.
i’ve read this several times. every time i read it, my jaw hits the floor again, and i just sit here dumbfounded.
in 2011, they just kept telling us two different things:
1. the programs were late getting back from the printer
2. there was a mistake in the programs and they had been turned in late
so from all that, i surmised ~~> no programs at all.
on the upside, i got to talk to margot kidder about mountaintop removal mining …
My girlfriend & I got the Stan Lee VIP 3 day pass and thankfully didn’t run into nearly as many issues as other did. Still it was very clear that they were horribly disorganized with little to no plan for communicating changes to attendees or even guests. I felt so sorry for anyone who either didn’t get there several hours early to pick up their tickets or who decided to just get them at the door. They really needed people setting up actual lines with the rope/chain barriers and having staff walk the lines to help keep people informed, at the very least for the larger events such as photo ops, Q & A panels, and autograph sessions. Despite the fact that we had a great time overall, including getting engaged :), neither of us are certain if we’ll be back again next year.
Exactly. They had all kinds of chains and posts to corral people for photo ops and in the will call area, all of which were being stepped over.
Congratulations on your engagement!
People were told not to complain on Facebook or twitter. I can’t imagine why anyone listened.
Went to Facebook page for Fandomfest, no way to complain.
I noticed that too. They no longer allow fans to post on their wall.
very, very telling.
Posterboard and Sharpies. If they can’t or won’t use the digital tools (and I was lucky to get any cellphone bars at all), then at least put up some signs. When we picked up our tickets at will call, they had a staff member announcing that here is where we were supposed to go. That didn’t help when someone showed up three minutes later wondering where to go.
I could get bars, but the signal was slow as everyone else was trying to access the programs and such.
Hi, Nicole! I believe we met on Saturday in the hall in front of 2D (you took a pic of my con binder and the Spiderman comics I just got signed). Your summary of this con is spot-on, and this situation seems to be the status quo at Frighnight / Fandomfest every year. I’ve been to this event for 4 years running now, and while they always land awesome guests, the disorganization almost makes it not worth attending. Who am I kidding – I’ll be there with bells on, disorganized or not, but I feel very sorry for the handful of staff who incurred my wrath over the weekend.
So my first time at Frightnight (Fandomfest wasn’t part of the equation until last year, but they seem hell-bent on dropping the “Frightnight” part as of late) was a pretty good experience, with the exception that the hotel was much smaller, and the air-conditioning was not functional, so celebrities and guests alike were all one big bag of stench. Cons always seem to bring out the hygenically challenged, which only adds insult to injury when no air-conditioning is availabe. Funny that this same song and dance happened when I came back (to the same hotel) for the event a year later. Needless to say, nobody was amused by reminiscing about the year before and reliving the experience.
Last year, they moved to the Galt House, and everything (Frightnight and Fandomfest alike) all took place in the hotel. There was no country mile hike throught the skywalks to get back and forth to the convention center. The lines were outrageous, and the staff didn’t know who was where. I missed two signings after being put in the wrong lines by staff members last year, and am still disgruntled about that experience to this day.
This year, I was glad to see that they had plenty of room, but they were seriously lacking in program guides, maps, and knowledgable staff members. Getting tickets for a Stan Lee autograph was about as pleasant as having a colonoscopy, but I (finally) managed to talk to the only intelligent staff member I was able to find and got in the correct line (which moved pretty quickly once I found it, I might add). Once Stan’s autographs were secured, the rest of the day was spent browsing the vendors and snatching up some autographs that were easier to acquire.
Overall, I had a great time, and I’m thankful that they, indeed, had plenty of room and functioning air-conditioning. I believe that this con would greatly benefit from better informed staff (with walkie talkies for when they get confused – they are, afterall, volunteers), hard copy programs, MAPS OF THE CON LAYOUT (seriously, Fandomfest???), and a better (or any) real-time online update system. They cover those bases next year, and everybody wins. They don’t, and it may be the last one I attend. Just my two cents. Nice meeting you, by the way!
Andrew, I agree. There is definitely potential at Fandomfest, but organizationally they still have quite a way to go. I really hope they take all the criticism and use it to put together a much better Con next year, otherwise, like you said many more people will not be coming back.
This happened the first year I went to Ohayocon, which I always heard was a great con.
The events were okay, and the vendors were great, but…
People kept cutting in line for everything, most notably the rave! My group of friends was toward the front of the line, but there was a large, open hallway between us and the start of the line. People kept cutting, and only one staff member was even nice about it. The rest were really rude and horrible when I said I was just concerned for those at the end of the line. They even threatened to kick us to the back of the line for speaking up about it!
Plus they kept shutting down the random dancers and people with music…for next to no reason! They weren’t charging money or blocking anything…It was really bad.
We were among the first 15 or 20 people in line for Reedus autograph Saturday morning at 7am. Stood in line for 5 hours and until he left to do photoshoots. We had to come back after the photoshoots. We will never come back to this con. Line Nazi control freek was rude and threatened to throw one guy in front of us out of the convention for complaining. The problem – they only let people with VIP passed through to see Reedus. While I understand the pass gives you preferred access, it should not give you EXLUSIVE access!!!!! No one from general admission was allowed through as long as anyone with the VIP pass was in line! Five hours and the guy who was first in line at 7am never got through. Ridiculous!!
I’m starting to think they oversold the VIP passes.
I go to alot of Cons and this show(and last year)is the only one I have ever been to where almost NO ONE took pics at their table. I heard it was the greed of whoever runs the photo OPs. Eddie McClintock and his manager told us it was the Management at the show. I have been to shows in Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, Knoxville, Indy and others and they ALL had photo Op’s to purchase and the Celebs still took photos at their table. Now some have charged a little extra(usually $10-20)for a pic. This show is getting bad and it may be our last year going which is a shame because I live in Louisville.