PLEASE! Anime: March 2014

Mini A-Kon VII was upgraded this year to two locations, starting at the Denton Civic Center in Denton TX, and adding a second location at the Emily Fowler Library within a few feet of the Civic Center on the same block. There was a nice park area where many con-goers were able to take splendid pictures and enjoy picnics and shows outside.
All in all it was a definite success!
However, all in all it was a success but there were a few things I noticed that could have gone smoother. Mostly I think the layout of the civic center had a lot to do with it, it being a completely round open area it makes it hard to block the area for where what is supposed to go where. But here are my suggestions

* First of all the main panel area at the civic center was in a completely open area with very limited seating. It just did not have very good panel room atmosphere being out in the open like it was, with so much commotion going on around it. But if that was going to have to be the case, then a small stage where the panelists could be elevated would have been more helpful.

* The video game area did not look promising, There hardly seemed to be any available consoles or games and the way it was arranged did not look very welcoming, it looked more like a garage sale of tvs than a gaming area.

* The vendors were arranged kind of funny. Most if seemed like they were trying to go around the walls with the shape of building but there was one booth that was being blocked by another booth and there was a hole in one area and I just think they could have arranged it to where no booths were blocked.

* I did like that they used the outside area as a stage for the cosplay contest and the ani-idol concert, that was a good idea indeed. so yay!

* They did not seem to be doing a very good job at head counts or handing out wristbands. They were only handing out wristbands if you came in through the front door of the civic center. What about if you came in from the library and entered the civic center through the back door? Then you had no reason to ever come in through the front door and you were basically uncounted for at the con.

*The library was open to regular civilians at the same time, this was not a bad thing but I think they could have done a little better at arranging things.
They could have had more open tables at the library for people to play board games or card games.
The Pachinko Machines were in a corner that had absolutely no space and being blocked by bookshelves.
The Artist booths were arranged in a strange manner. It woudl have been better to move a couple of bookshelves for the day to arrange things better.
The art contest winners could have been moved to a better location instead of being in the middle of a space that could have been used more productively.

Well all in all it wasn't that bad. It was quite fun, it was a beautiful day and many great cosplayers were there. I hope next year they do a little better organizing, It's always tough the first time something is at a new location so I think next year will be better!