Back!

[rallamajoop]

Back from Melbourne! This marks the first time I've been on the Internet since Wednesday afternoon, despite there being a pay-per-use computer right down the hall from us at the hotel. And yet I have not experienced the slighest bit of web withdrawl. This should tell you all you need to know about how busy the last couple of days have been. x_x

The best way I can describe Manifest is that it felt like a medium-sized con that got scaled up to a very large con without anyone making most of the organisational changes required to make this go smoothly. The venue for the ball was so small and full of so many people that there was next to no room left for anyone to dance or take photos without being in everyone else's way. The non-preregistered queue for the con took hours to get through on the first day and only got longer on the second, and the hall for the cosplay comp is so far from being large enough that apparently a lot of people have to be shuffled into secondary halls to watch via a video feed. Traders were apparently moved this year because there wasn't space for them in the main building, which meant there was quite a walk to get there, and even the new venue quickly wound up so packed the queue to get in sometimes went all the way down the stairs. Also, there were no maps to show where everything was, no programs available on the first day, and the art show turned out to be an empty room. So in short, I'd say I we get better value out of our local Waicon most years, but the people were really friendly and like just about any event that lets us get dressed up and hang out with friends and other fans, a lot of fun was had.

Many photos were taken (velithya's got nice one of me and her up here), but most of them are still on pinneagig's camera and she isn't back until Tuesday. So I'll leave this as a preliminary con report for now and go get some much needed rest.

Comments

[velithya]

SLEEP WELL! :D

[aphelion-orion.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds like organization fail. D: I'm glad the Canadian Fanexpo was better in those respects, though imo they still let in way too many people.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I can see why they wouldn't want to cap numbers, and most of the con still seemed to function reasonably well (the parts of it we could find, anyhow), but going by the size of the venues and the number of people they had working the counter etc, they didn't seem prepared for half that many visitors. Which there's not much excuse for, because I'm pretty sure last year was supposed to have been a similar size. Especially when even our local anime con graduated from running at in universities to renting out part of our city's massive convention centre last year, and it doesn't get anywhere near as many people. I can only guess crowds and queues are just what attendees are used to over there.

[aphelion-orion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, of course limiting the numbers would be difficult and not especially desirable, but as you said, being prepared for it and choosing the right place to host this is essential. The Fanexpo was also held at the huge convention center, so at least there, they had means of dealing with the queues.