Katsucon was a good weekend.  Pictures will be coming on the weekend.  I need to work on getting a good digital camera.  

The con was too big for the space.  That led to alot of space issues. I would have lowered the cap to 5,000 people (not including staff and associates).  If Anime USA grows to 5,000 attendees, they shouldn't push it to 6,000.  They should move to the Gaylord National or go to DC convention center.

I donated several pieces for the Charity Auction.  They all sold very well.  The Charity Auction raised over $5,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.  Jim Miller (one of the Vice chairs) can keep the event fun.  A friend of my mother's is a Breast Cancer survivor, so that is why I really support the Charity Auction.  I would love to see one started at Anime USA for the Japan Bowl or something that would fit in with our mission.  

I always see a lot of fun costumes. Some of them include a Silk Spectre, Wonder Woman, Cutey Honey and so many others.  This is one of the reasons I go to Katuscon.  I really enjoyed that part of the convention.

The panel programming was good for what they had to deal with space wise.  My favorite was the Japanamerica panel.  Roland Kelts is one of the foremost thinkers on where the industry is heading (in America and in Japan). He gets what is going on in and out of fandom.  If he comes to your convention, you should go to one of his talks. 

Registration is a big issue this year.The lines were 3 hours long at times.  It was only an hour when I got in at 10:30 AM.  I think the best way to handle it is to throw alot of people at it like Otakon does. They always have 20 plus booths going for registration at their peak hours on Friday and Saturday. They have two people at them. I also think putting in a barcode system into it would help.

A couple of thoughts on Masquerade. It was a good time while my stomach could stand it.  I was very hungry and left early. The masquerade started late due to late loading of the room.  I hope they have a later Masquerade. I hate a 6 PM Masquerade because it makes me choose dinner at 5 PM or 9 PM.  They also blinded people with lights during the show.  Don't blind people during the show.  The lights in front ofthe stage

Please don't have the host "drinking" as a joke. It kind of encourages the con as a rowdy con while the staff are trying to keep it as family friendly as possible. Start loading earlier for the Masquerade. This will be a bigger issue next year as the room will be bigger, so everyone will want to go see it.

I do hope there is more panel rooms and video rooms. A mixture of sizes would help in that front. There are panels that work best in 100 seat rooms (like the Yoko Kanno panel I hosted) and those that work best in 500 seat rooms (Dance off). I kept back a couple of panels, so people could have a chance to offer panel ideas.

This con could have easily been closed by the Fire Marshall. I think a fannish Miracle happened on that front. I hope the con doesn't lose too many people because the new venue (with proper preparation) will be great. The gaylord is as close as Fannish heaven as could be. I have an interesting story and how it shows what Anime fans think about Worldcon, which I will talk about later today or tomorrow.