Today I write to you about organizing anime conventions - it's not always so easy, and there's growing challenges.
You might think that I would celebrate seeing failures from other conventions. After all, doesn't the chairman of Coke smile whenever Pepsi stock goes down? But when conventions have problems that I understand, especially problems I have experienced and overcame myself, it only makes me sad, rather than celebratory.
This is because, to me, I am an anime fan and a member of the anime convention community before I am a businessperson and convention runner. Seeing the community suffer does not delight me, even if it's the result of a competitor's failure.
This weekend, #Youmacon in Detroit is facing challenges that have caught the attention of social media: sudden event cancellations, reports of attendees spending many hours waiting for badges, and delays in opening important spaces such as the vendor room.
You'd think I might just be sharing these notes to bash on another event, but I'm not. Of course I have complicated feelings when a "competitor" - especially one that has directly treated us as a competitor - struggles. But that's not why I am including such specifics.
I include them because I have a good guess about what may be happening - about where some of the failures might lie - and it's concerning.
Because when it comes to sudden room cancellations, spaces not being set up on time, etc, I've experienced it all myself.
Less than a year ago we had our video game, vendor hall, and maid cafe rooms all set up 4 hours late. Was it a result of bad organizing? Was it all my failures as the event planner?
No.
In our case, the delays were caused largely by circumstances involving the venue.
We were lucky in our case, our team had strong communication, and we knew in advance about the delays we were going to experience. We announced most of them, and we had extra staff on hand during the flip over. No one had to wait. Though we did have significant complaints with the venue in the end, as they couldn't meet their promises.
You see, the convention center had scheduled the teardown of the previous event immediately before the setup of ours. That left substantially less time than we expected to prepare our spaces.
There's a lot of things convention centers can charge significant amounts for. Start with the $19 singular hot dog and soda. Next think about the $40 parking charge that some of our convention centers want to charge. ($17 at Midwest, don't worry!!)
And then the union labor fees - but unions themselves can be something of a scapegoat in this discussion. While individual workers might make $30-40 an hour, venues can bill event organizers substantially more for that labor. The final billed rate can reach $150 an hour or more once administrative charges, overhead, and other costs are included.
Convention center and hotel prices have been on the rise since our very first events. Our first convention hotels - way back in 2010/2011 - had rooms available for only $99 a night. Now, these prices start closer to $130-$180 depending on the event, locking some attendees out of being able to afford attending.
Meeting room rental fees have increased consistently too; venues often initially propose substantial increases, and I negotiate them down the best I can.
Additional fees continue to grow as well. Some convention centers require events to use an exclusive audiovisual provider, which can substantially increase costs and limit an organizer's ability to shop around. Pricing can also arrive relatively late in the planning process. That can leave an organizer facing an unexpected audiovisual bill of $10,000, $20,000, or even $50,000 shortly before the convention.
In total, this means that holding a large convention is more expensive than ever. Labor charges, audiovisual costs, setup fees, cleaning fees, deposits, and other venue expenses can be difficult for organizers to predict and budget for, particularly when they are disclosed late in the planning process.
These venue costs and restrictions are becoming one of the biggest challenges facing events.
And THAT is the problem with conventions now.
Many large venues are operated by large hospitality companies, management companies, or other corporate entities that understandably want to maximize revenue from their properties. The convention industry also suffered significant disruption during COVID-19, and prices have remained considerably higher than they were before the pandemic.
>> venue costs are putting increasing pressure on events
No amount of organizing, planning, or smart thinking can entirely get around the fact that convention centers often have limited direct competition within their markets. Events generally can't simply substitute another similarly sized venue nearby, particularly after dates, hotels, transportation, and other logistics have already been arranged.
So when an event space gets cancelled, or events after a certain time don't happen, there can sometimes be more happening behind the scenes than attendees realize. Unexpected venue costs, scheduling conflicts, staffing requirements, or contractual restrictions can force organizers to make difficult decisions very quickly.
Sure, some of the issues reported from our competitor's event in Detroit may be unrelated to the venue. We at AnimeCon.org have been fortunate that more than half our core staff have been working for us for more than 10 freaking years, so some of these issues might not happen at Anime Midwest. But based on my own experience, venue-related problems can contribute significantly to problems that attendees ultimately see.
If anything threatens the long-term viability of anime conventions, rapidly increasing venue costs will certainly be one of the major challenges.
I extend my best regards to all attendees at this weekend's event. Remember, the heart of any convention is the joy you create and share. We hope to see you bring that same spirit to Anime Midwest!
Ryan Kopf
CEO of AnimeCon.org
