Author Topic: FIXING THE CON’S CONS published in the UT 7.26.12  (Read 5162 times)

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FIXING THE CON’S CONS published in the UT 7.26.12
« on: July 27, 2012, 04:52:50 PM »
FIXING THE CON’S CONS
From rush to get tickets, to crush in Hall H, fans have plenty of ideas for improving event
By Lori Weisberg & Roger Showley
12:01 a.m., July 26, 2012 Updated 7:12 p.m. , July 25, 2012


The throngs of Comic-Con attendees are gone, so too are the Hollywood studios, the impossibly long lines and the congested exhibit hall floor. And so planning begins anew for next year’s pop culture extravaganza that will no doubt be sold out and will yet again prompt calls for changes to make the show more easy to access and navigate.

We reached out to fans to see what suggestions they had to make the four-day convention more manageable for attendees, as well as exhibitors. Their concerns, not surprisingly, frequently focused on the hours-long lines for panels showcasing popular TV shows and eagerly anticipated film openings.

Comic-Con International, which estimates attendance at more than 130,000 for this year’s confab, is banking on an expansion of the San Diego Convention Center to better accommodate the expected growth in attendance in future years. That expansion, though, is not expected to be completed until at least 2016 - if the project is ultimately approved by the California Coastal Commission and survives legal challenges.

In the meantime, fans of Comic-Con believe that logistical changes should be implemented to satisfy attendees of San Diego’s largest convention.

Here’s a breakdown of what fans said frustrated them most and their ideas for resolving those issues. Comic-Con International spokesman David Glanzer pointed out that many of the suggested changes have come up in the past during feedback sessions that organizers hold at the end of each convention. All are reviewed, and, in some cases, implemented, he said.

“We welcome any suggestions to help make Comic-Con run smoother,’’ Glanzer offered.

Included here are Glanzer’s responses to fan feedback.

Nabbing a ticket

Fans each year sweat out the online scramble to purchase tickets, and many people are disappointed when they can’t get in.

Suggestion: Move ticketing to Ticketmaster or some other commercial site with the capacity to handle the demand.

Glanzer: “This assumes Ticketmaster could handle the volume and that attendees would be OK with the added service and licensing fees.”

Suggestion: Spread the convention out over more days.

Glanzer: “At one time Comic-Con was a five-day event. The time exhibitors had to spend away from their business made this scenario not repeatable.”

Suggestion: Set up remote sites for sessions beyond the convention hotel zone, for example, in Balboa Park, the Community Concourse, local colleges and universities, temporary pavilions on the waterfront.

Glanzer: “We are currently moving some programming off-site to area hotels. But this isn’t an easy task. Many programming participants do not want to be in locations outside the convention center … Locations farther away would necessitate additional volunteers to handle the added locations. However, we are trying to move more programming and even exhibits to neighboring hotels to create something of a Comic-Con Campus feel.”

Suggestions: Sell tickets to particular sessions, events.

Record the sessions to be broadcast online or on television and then sell access to the broadcasts.

Glanzer: “There are some issues that preclude us from doing this currently; however, it is a scenario we are reviewing.”

Suggestion: Split Comic-Con into various genres - comics, movies, television, popular arts - and create programs for those different areas as concurrent events, one-day focus events at hotels, or as before- and-after mini conventions.

Glanzer: “Again, this could pose a staffing issue. However, there are concurrent programs, panels and workshops at the center and various hotels.”

The battle for Hall H

Even with 6,500 seats, Hall H simply is not large enough. Many attendees end up getting shut out of the most popular panels held there, whether it be the cast from the “Game of Thrones” discussing filming the provocative HBO series or a preview of the upcoming “Hobbit” film. Many spend hours, if not days, camped outside to get a chance for a spot in the hall. It’s such a premium seat that many attendees remain inside throughout the day, making it even tougher to nab a seat.

Suggestion: Clear the hall between sessions and extend Hall H events into the evening hours.

Glanzer: “Currently it takes one hour to fill Hall H first thing in the morning. We anticipate it could take between 15 to 20 minutes to clear every seat. Placing a 1-hour, 15-minute break between each panel would reduce the number of panels we could hold in that room.”

Suggestion: Sell tickets to sessions to guarantee a spot.

Glanzer: “This would probably necessitate clearing the hall between each panel, as well as devising a mechanism whereby we could issue tickets per program for the additional fee. Comic-Con has always been a one-price-for-entrance-and-no-additional-fees event.”

Suggestion: Stream the sessions to remote locations or televise the panel discussions on monitors outside the hall.

Glanzer: “Currently, every room at the center is occupied, though we do rebroadcast some of the panels in Hall H and Ballroom 20 later in the evenings.”

Suggestion: Move the most high-profile panels to Petco Park and open up the sessions to the general public on a single paid-ticket basis.

Glanzer: “Sun is an issue not only for the screen but also for audiences sitting in the sun for multiple hours … There is also the added expense of renting the facility as well as the quality of the screen. Currently we take great strides in assuring that the screens and projection system are of a quality that is acceptable to the studios (and) our attendees as well.”

Exhibit floor congestion

The crush of bodies in the convention center can make for an unpleasant experience trying to navigate the hundreds of booths and exhibits.

Suggestion: Relocate some exhibits and make more room for different genres.

Glanzer: “Who would agree to be relocated and to where? We tried relocating some section of the floor to the Sails Pavilion some years ago, and it was met with unhappiness by those particular exhibitors.”

Suggestion: Organize lines for autographs, swag and purchases to make the flow of people less confusing.

Glanzer: “We currently have lines for autographs and purchases and people who control those lines. We try to monitor the larger booths in how they conduct transactions and ask them to adhere to our rules and, in fact, this year we moved many lines upstairs to the autograph area to reduce crowding on the floor.

Food and beverage

Many attendees complained that the food choices inside the convention story are limited and unhealthy.

Suggestion: Offer more choices inside the hall.

Glanzer: “The convention center has control over food and beverage inside the facility.”

Suggestion: Encourage food trucks and other temporary vendors to set up service outside the building.

Glanzer: “I don’t know that there is any place outside the building that could accommodate this.”

Suggestion: Allow deliveries by food companies to people standing in line.

Glanzer: “Again, that would probably be at the discretion of the center, but more importantly, where would the trucks park?”

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