Help with planning a convention, please?

kage_rod

Hello! I'm from Grande Prairie, Alberta. In my high school, we started this anime club last year, and, against my personal opinion, we hosted this convention we called, "N00BCon". It was poorly advertised, barely ran, and we only made money because everything was donated. Somehow, it was good enough that only a few complained, and most liked it - at least, that's what they said to me.. *sweatdrop*

Well, everyone liked it enough and thought I did a good enough job that they decided to have another N00bCon, with me at the head yet again. But I'm completely lost on how to take what we did last year and make it better.. Do you guys have at least a few ideas to throw at me, please?

Thank you... *bows*

ColdfireSerge

Having free stuff from sponsers is a definite plus.  I would definitely recommend trying to get them to provide for you again. 
 
Looking at the website you had for this years N00Bcon -www.piczo.com/n00bcon- along with the forum post that results from a quick search, I learned that you had it in the afternoon on a Friday.  Did that work well for you?  Do you think having more time available would be beneficial? 
What space are you using?  Does your highschool have enough space for any growth from people telling their friends how much fun they had?
 What you will want to have is greatly dependant on how many people you think will show up.  You may not need more than two viewing rooms if your total number of con-goers is less than 1,000.
 
I would probably reccomend listening to Rym and Scott saying what they would do at a convention, as well as some of their reports.  While most of the things that they talk about deal with large cons, there are still some tips that you can take away.

kage_rod

Our high school is really hard to plan with - we end up putting artist alley, DDR, and vendors all in the gym, and the viewing rooms in a stage and the cafeteria... There's enough space to at least double, maybe triple, the amount of congoers and volunteers (I think we had 50ish).

We decided to do it on Feb 16th this year, a saturday. I can't quite remember the times.. I think it was 11 to 5, at least.

Thanks a lot though, I'm getting a few ideas of what to cover and do... Although I never thought that our site would pop up. I've never searched it. Hahaha.

Thanks.

bunnikun

Maybe host a masquerade event? I don't like them that much, but I know a lot of people do. Let people sign up early, and make sure to preview their skits.

Welcome cosplays as well. Cosplaying attracts a lot of attention to the con, just because it's fun to see your favorite anime characters brought to life.

To get more people to come, advertise early. Put up posters, spread the word, and maybe even get an add in the newspaper.

kage_rod

But is it wise to have such things like masquerades if it's so small..? Same with any type of skits thing...

Cosplays are always welcomed... we had about 7 (out of 50ish) people cosplaying . . .

Alright.

Cremlian

I have been to a couple one day conventions at high schools, and if you have an area for a few local vendors, a showing room, some video games and maybe an area for go, you've actually done a extremely good job. So, contact your local comic book store or any place that sells Manga or anime dvds. See if you can't find a local club that will teach Go, most places have a local Go club that will be more then willing to hold a panel or set up some go boards. Next, make sure you do not sure any anime that is over PG without running it past a school official. They will also be interested in making sure that the vendor is not selling anything unsettling as well. The same applies to video games as well, DDR or Guitar hero are great choices, violent shooter games not as much. Major events are fun with or without a lot of people participating as long as you have it run efficiently and entertain the audience. You can also have a public trivia contest on the stage with audience participation. Running this I realized how scary middle school anime fans actually are. (it was eye opening) Anyhow, that's a good start for now. let me know if you want any more ideas. I can ramble on about this subject for a while.

kage_rod

Oh wow that's a lot.

Is Go really a good thing to have? My main worry is not having anyone to run it.. There's no Go Club here that I know of. .. Is there anything else that would be good for that kind of thing? I know we have one of those midievel clubs who do feasts and dress up and mock fights...
We have 3 main vendors; one is a specific anime/manga and merchandise store, one is an anime/manga/comic store, and another is a used game store with anime... the latter two and a computer cafe are sponsors as well. Is there any way to additionally promote and support them, especially the sponsors, aside from putting them on the advertising posters?

What about AMV rooms, or one of the viewing rooms turned into an AMV room for an hour or two? I remember talking to Vlad (popular AMV creator, runs several AMV panels in different cons), and we talked about how AMV rooms are almost always packed, sometimes with people trying to shove their heads in far enough to see.