In my opinion they need more entrances and exits for 2023 and going forward! Only one entrance was absurd and they need more staff this year because I saw even some of the convention center staff get flustered and I don't blame them at all for feeling that way, they deserve a raise too from their employer as well!
We got a room at the one hotel close by, but were wait listed for Renaissance/Westin that was the single worst decision they made giving absolutely no warning about the block opening unless you were at the closing ceremony. Sadly we had to be checked out and on the road by 4pm so we were headed home by the time that was announced.
We were gone too but got lucky as friends tipped us off. Finding coverage about closing this year was difficult for some reason, usually people are posting stuff on twitter but I didn't find out anything until about a day later.
My biggest issue was not the lines (I personally never had much of a wait since I didn't have bag or cosplay checks, so the side entrance worked fine. However, the lines for panels were so crowded that going to the bathroom 20 minutes before a panel made me miss one. This was the must frustrating thing because aside from the shopping, the panels are the reason I go to otakon.
Which panel did you have to miss? I went to attend the Sword Lesbians panel and it was full even before starting, the Big West panel was basically full, but I was late for that one.
I was a Friday and a first time panelist (long time public speaker though) and i agree that alot of the panelists seemed to not be as well prepared for their presentations. Alot of cue card and bullet point reading and inability to grab or hold the crowd. I hope for next year those with more public speaking/panelist work can maybe work with less experienced public speakers on how to be more engaging and plan a bit more. Full disclosure I did do predownloaded videos for my presentation, but i def ran into Powerpoint issues with mine. I ran the Japanese and Anime Fitness trends panel, def need to change that panel name lol
Good job getting a panel into Otakon! That's a big thing. The one time at a smaller con, we had to do a sudden laptop switch, and had almost no videos thanks to the wrong player/codecs being on the laptop. Thankfully, we pulled it off, but it was a little messy.
The hotel thing was a joke, I literally was still standing in the Marquis waiting for noon to hit so I could book the hotel for the following year only for then the blocks opened literally everything was either already sold out, or everything was on wait list already.
Same basically. We got lucky and have a double for now at the Courtyard across the street from the convention center. They open a few additional entrances (like they should) for next year, we'll be ok if that ends up being our primary.
@@esw01407 Oh let me tell you a story about that hotel across the street, I actually booked at the Residence Inn which is the hotel connected with the Courtyard (they have the same staff). I always book the Residence because they have a full kitchen* (no oven), a King bed, and pull out couch which is great for space and cooking because anyone who goes to DC knows food be expensive, so we bring a weeks worth of food down with us to cook all weekend long. I get down there this year a day in advance and spend the night in a friends room, and go to check into my hotel the next day at 2pm (a full hour early) because I saw people going into the hotel and checking in. I get in there and I'm told they have no rooms in the Residence Inn and they wanted to put me in the Courtyard (double bed no kitchen). They still wanted to charge me the Residence Inn price which was like $40 more expensive then the Courtyard per night. Needless to say I wasn't happy the staff was rude, but eventually they gave me a room in the Residence Inn but it was like the Harry Potter under the staircase closet version of the normal room.
@@jamesburns6603 Thanks for the info. I wish someone would have done a closing ceremonies write-up, I usually try to follow along with it on Twitter but posts were far and few between this year.
I think security would have been better if they didn't use the worst people possible from the venue itself. Those people were almost worse then the smithsonian security people who are basically TSA failures
This video just popped into my recommended 2 months past Otakon, strange but I guess that's the UA-cam algorithm. Otakon 2022 was my first anime convention. I loved it but it definitely had A LOT of flaws. I was one of the lucky ones that never got stuck in bad lines besides for the Dealers Room but that moved quick. Most I waited in line was Saturday morning, I actually got in right as they opened so no line, then realized I forgot my wallet, went back to the hotel (15 minute walk), came back, line had started, waited 20 minutes to get back in, so not bad. Biggest complaint I had was the panels. I went to I would say 7 or 8 panels. Only 2 were good. The Black Lagoon panel and the 18+ Now that's what I call Hentai (Panel just listening to Hentai OSTs). The write your own anime panel was also good but I left halfway through because the mic's audio was WAY too loud and I got a headache. Every other panel was just a jumbled mess, had a misleading title, or just felt like a high school powerpoint presentation aka boring. The Sword Lesbian panel was the next best panel but it took a while to get going. Also lines for panels. I showed up to a panel, I forget which one, an HOUR early and the room was already full with a line waiting outside. Just crazy. I think next year, I'm just going to ignore panels except ones that REALLY catch my attention and just hang out in the dealers room. I spent like 80% of my time down there this year and it was so much fun shopping around and talking to vendors and random cosplayers that went by. Speaking of the Dealers Room, there's a problem there as well. 1. the Food. Just overpriced public school food basically. I'm just gonna bring a bunch of stuff in a lunchbox next year. They also need more places to get water. Drinks were crazy expensive (like $4 for a bottle of water) and the vending machines I found were out of order. I hope they put more vending machines around cause fountains are just unsanitary imo. 2: the lack of organization in the Dealer's Room. I was constantly scrolling through Twitter under the Otakon tag just looking for people advertising their booths and if something caught my eye, I would try to find them. They would always say "I'm at booth A5" or something and due to no booths being marked, it was so difficult to find them. One booth, I saw something I was interested in, but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy yet so I left to think about it, decided to go back and buy it. Took me like 15 minutes to find that booth again even though I knew generally where it was. There's a lot more that needs to be fixed for next year but lines (for others, again I didn't experience that), panels, and just overall, the organization of everything, needs to be a lot better. It was all over the place and I felt bad for the vendors and staff as well. A Vtuber (Techycutie) set up a booth, she was on the screen as her avatar talking to people and she had her friend running the booth itself. That poor guy. Apparently, it would take them 2-3 hours to set up the booth. 30 minutes before the con opened for the day, Otakon told them to move to a different spot, so the guy had to tear everything down, move everything to the middle of the dealers room where their new booth spot was at, reset all of the vtuber stuff so Techy could see and talk to people, set up the booth so people could shop, etc... I bought 3 keychains and he spent like 10 minutes digging through bins and bags trying to find the right ones because they made him pack up and move with so little warning.
I don't think they'll get away with that, but what I'm hoping for, is two or three "non-bag" entrances. All you would need is one detector and a wand. Quick in and out. Allow props also if they have been checked already.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #30 ДВА В ОДНОМ [Один человек]• Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nrXy15orKhY/mqdefault.jpg)
In my opinion they need more entrances and exits for 2023 and going forward! Only one entrance was absurd and they need more staff this year because I saw even some of the convention center staff get flustered and I don't blame them at all for feeling that way, they deserve a raise too from their employer as well!
pretty spot on tbh
We got a room at the one hotel close by, but were wait listed for Renaissance/Westin that was the single worst decision they made giving absolutely no warning about the block opening unless you were at the closing ceremony. Sadly we had to be checked out and on the road by 4pm so we were headed home by the time that was announced.
We were gone too but got lucky as friends tipped us off. Finding coverage about closing this year was difficult for some reason, usually people are posting stuff on twitter but I didn't find out anything until about a day later.
Great job! This is an entertaining and very accurate review!
Thanks! Very appreciated!
My biggest issue was not the lines (I personally never had much of a wait since I didn't have bag or cosplay checks, so the side entrance worked fine. However, the lines for panels were so crowded that going to the bathroom 20 minutes before a panel made me miss one. This was the must frustrating thing because aside from the shopping, the panels are the reason I go to otakon.
Which panel did you have to miss? I went to attend the Sword Lesbians panel and it was full even before starting, the Big West panel was basically full, but I was late for that one.
@@esw01407 the soot sprite workshop and the gameshow workshop by manly battleships
I was a Friday and a first time panelist (long time public speaker though) and i agree that alot of the panelists seemed to not be as well prepared for their presentations. Alot of cue card and bullet point reading and inability to grab or hold the crowd. I hope for next year those with more public speaking/panelist work can maybe work with less experienced public speakers on how to be more engaging and plan a bit more. Full disclosure I did do predownloaded videos for my presentation, but i def ran into Powerpoint issues with mine. I ran the Japanese and Anime Fitness trends panel, def need to change that panel name lol
Good job getting a panel into Otakon! That's a big thing. The one time at a smaller con, we had to do a sudden laptop switch, and had almost no videos thanks to the wrong player/codecs being on the laptop. Thankfully, we pulled it off, but it was a little messy.
The hotel thing was a joke, I literally was still standing in the Marquis waiting for noon to hit so I could book the hotel for the following year only for then the blocks opened literally everything was either already sold out, or everything was on wait list already.
Same basically. We got lucky and have a double for now at the Courtyard across the street from the convention center. They open a few additional entrances (like they should) for next year, we'll be ok if that ends up being our primary.
@@esw01407 Oh let me tell you a story about that hotel across the street, I actually booked at the Residence Inn which is the hotel connected with the Courtyard (they have the same staff). I always book the Residence because they have a full kitchen* (no oven), a King bed, and pull out couch which is great for space and cooking because anyone who goes to DC knows food be expensive, so we bring a weeks worth of food down with us to cook all weekend long. I get down there this year a day in advance and spend the night in a friends room, and go to check into my hotel the next day at 2pm (a full hour early) because I saw people going into the hotel and checking in. I get in there and I'm told they have no rooms in the Residence Inn and they wanted to put me in the Courtyard (double bed no kitchen). They still wanted to charge me the Residence Inn price which was like $40 more expensive then the Courtyard per night. Needless to say I wasn't happy the staff was rude, but eventually they gave me a room in the Residence Inn but it was like the Harry Potter under the staircase closet version of the normal room.
@@FlikViktor Oh that's special. You would think they have a better idea of how many people are booking as everything's electronic and be prepared.
They made Foreign Guest Announcement them so late because Japan and Korea dropped their Travel Ban just weeks before the Convention.
Interesting. Surprised Otakon would even risk bringing them in with such short notice.
@@esw01407 During the closing ceremonies they said they had obligations to fulfill, well for the music acts.
@@jamesburns6603 Thanks for the info. I wish someone would have done a closing ceremonies write-up, I usually try to follow along with it on Twitter but posts were far and few between this year.
I actually made my hotel reservation at the Union Square train station waiting room just when noon hit that Monday. I was pretty lucky.
A friend of mine was pulled over outside of Baltimore hoping the T-Mobile signal would hold out.
C- for me. Worst con I've been to all year. No coordination, no space, and no alcohol. Never going back to Ota.
Used to be a little simpler to get that portable in the convention center...
I think security would have been better if they didn't use the worst people possible from the venue itself. Those people were almost worse then the smithsonian security people who are basically TSA failures
This video just popped into my recommended 2 months past Otakon, strange but I guess that's the UA-cam algorithm. Otakon 2022 was my first anime convention. I loved it but it definitely had A LOT of flaws. I was one of the lucky ones that never got stuck in bad lines besides for the Dealers Room but that moved quick. Most I waited in line was Saturday morning, I actually got in right as they opened so no line, then realized I forgot my wallet, went back to the hotel (15 minute walk), came back, line had started, waited 20 minutes to get back in, so not bad.
Biggest complaint I had was the panels. I went to I would say 7 or 8 panels. Only 2 were good. The Black Lagoon panel and the 18+ Now that's what I call Hentai (Panel just listening to Hentai OSTs). The write your own anime panel was also good but I left halfway through because the mic's audio was WAY too loud and I got a headache. Every other panel was just a jumbled mess, had a misleading title, or just felt like a high school powerpoint presentation aka boring. The Sword Lesbian panel was the next best panel but it took a while to get going. Also lines for panels. I showed up to a panel, I forget which one, an HOUR early and the room was already full with a line waiting outside. Just crazy.
I think next year, I'm just going to ignore panels except ones that REALLY catch my attention and just hang out in the dealers room. I spent like 80% of my time down there this year and it was so much fun shopping around and talking to vendors and random cosplayers that went by. Speaking of the Dealers Room, there's a problem there as well. 1. the Food. Just overpriced public school food basically. I'm just gonna bring a bunch of stuff in a lunchbox next year. They also need more places to get water. Drinks were crazy expensive (like $4 for a bottle of water) and the vending machines I found were out of order. I hope they put more vending machines around cause fountains are just unsanitary imo. 2: the lack of organization in the Dealer's Room. I was constantly scrolling through Twitter under the Otakon tag just looking for people advertising their booths and if something caught my eye, I would try to find them. They would always say "I'm at booth A5" or something and due to no booths being marked, it was so difficult to find them. One booth, I saw something I was interested in, but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy yet so I left to think about it, decided to go back and buy it. Took me like 15 minutes to find that booth again even though I knew generally where it was.
There's a lot more that needs to be fixed for next year but lines (for others, again I didn't experience that), panels, and just overall, the organization of everything, needs to be a lot better. It was all over the place and I felt bad for the vendors and staff as well. A Vtuber (Techycutie) set up a booth, she was on the screen as her avatar talking to people and she had her friend running the booth itself. That poor guy. Apparently, it would take them 2-3 hours to set up the booth. 30 minutes before the con opened for the day, Otakon told them to move to a different spot, so the guy had to tear everything down, move everything to the middle of the dealers room where their new booth spot was at, reset all of the vtuber stuff so Techy could see and talk to people, set up the booth so people could shop, etc... I bought 3 keychains and he spent like 10 minutes digging through bins and bags trying to find the right ones because they made him pack up and move with so little warning.
Nah, the Metal Detectors are very unneeded for a con, things would flow faster if they didn’t have them at all
I don't think they'll get away with that, but what I'm hoping for, is two or three "non-bag" entrances. All you would need is one detector and a wand. Quick in and out. Allow props also if they have been checked already.