With regards to Anime Boston conflicting with other cons, AB has scheduling problems because we exist in a major convention city (lots of boring stuff like medical conventions) with only one convention center that is easy to get to. Year after year there will only be one or two weekends available in the spring and they often conflict with other cons. In an effort to avoid this in the future we currently have our con dates booked through 2011, hopefully the later dates will be less of a problem.
This year AB only conflicts with a convention in Missouri and Wisconsin. I hope more people can come!