Feedback to BronyCAN 2014

[Aquaryan 42]

Can we place our feedback on the BronyCAN (2014) on here?

[FirestormCAN 246]

Certainly. If there's anything you enjoyed or would like to see us improved on for next year, please feel free to say so. We'll do our best to take any suggestions you give us. Well, almost any suggestion.

[Aquaryan 42]

If anyone who attended the BronyCAN 2014, I hope you put your suggestions for BronyCAN 2015.

 

This was my first Brony Convention.  It was the first time that I was out in public admitting that "I am a Brony!" I suspect that I was not alone.

 

POSITIVE:

 

One of the highlights was witnessing all the Bronies mingling with each other.  There was a lot of socialization and encouragement from each other.  Athough I was among the "older" crowd, it warmed my heart to see that the younger generation are learning how to be better without judgement.

 

NEGATIVE:

 

Photoshoot for the Cosplayers should have been in a bigger room, as it was way too small for everyone to take pictures.  My suggestion is a larger room and for photographers to be able to take pictures without other photographers messing up their shots, I admit that I must have done that to a number of photographers at the event.   Even then, my photos did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

 

POSITIVE & NEGATIVE:

 

Different programs (even repeating programs for certain topics).  Does it cost more money to rent out more rooms?  I know that I was looking forward to doing the bullying panel. Next convention, I hope this panel happens.

 

Topic Suggestions:

• Writing original fan fiction
• Drawing original art work
• Brony Pride booth.  Where fans can share their favorite pony..

[AlbaTross 1,586]

My experience was all around positive. For constructive criticism, I think I would say that I wish more panels took place on days 1 and 3. Day 2 had the most going on by far. I guess it's kind of a good thing, mind you, that there wad enough of a break in the action on the third day.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

This is more of a personal suggestion for BronyCAN 2015, but if there's an overlap in the fandoms it might be to the convention's benefit: Make sure next year's convention isn't the same weekend as the WorldCon being held next year in Spokane.

[Aquaryan 42]

This is more of a personal suggestion for BronyCAN 2015, but if there's an overlap in the fandoms it might be to the convention's benefit: Make sure next year's convention isn't the same weekend as the WorldCon being held next year in Spokane.

 

I agree, but often hotels etc are booked with other commitments.  It really depends on the weekend that they can acquire.   I suspect a few people did not mind the Anime Convention was happening at the same time, especially if their family does not know about their love for MLP.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I agree, but often hotels etc are booked with other commitments.  It really depends on the weekend that they can acquire.   I suspect a few people did not mind the Anime Convention was happening at the same time, especially if their family does not know about their love for MLP.

True, but there are a lot of fans of both anime and MLP:FiM. I'm sure that made it difficult for some people who might have wanted to go to both cons. Having Brony Can at a different time is an excellent suggestion IMHO.

[FirestormCAN 246]

 

 

Photoshoot for the Cosplayers should have been in a bigger room, as it was way too small for everyone to take pictures. 

Unfortunately the two largest rooms at the Executive are the Grand Ballroom and Westminster, and as those two rooms were occupied, Boardroom A was the last option we had available. We didn't consider the courtyard either, though it was due to weather concerns. We'll be looking at other venue options in the Lower Mainland; ones that can give us more large rooms to work with. We'll let you know what we find once we announce the date and venue for 2015!

 

 

 

Different programs (even repeating programs for certain topics).  Does it cost more money to rent out more rooms?  I know that I was looking forward to doing the bullying panel. Next convention, I hope this panel happens.

 

 

My experience was all around positive. For constructive criticism, I think I would say that I wish more panels took place on days 1 and 3. Day 2 had the most going on by far. I guess it's kind of a good thing, mind you, that there wad enough of a break in the action on the third day.

 

Our programming department received a lot of panel suggestions over the past half year of preparation. Sadly, some panels, like the bullying panel, had to be cut because of time and space constraints. We tried to spread events out to other days, but it's clear that more work needs to be done to balance out content between all days of the convention.

 

 

 

This is more of a personal suggestion for BronyCAN 2015, but if there's an overlap in the fandoms it might be to the convention's benefit: Make sure next year's convention isn't the same weekend as the WorldCon being held next year in Spokane.

It's never our intention to run the same day as another con being held in the same region (the west coast, in our case). We'll be looking at all our available dates for next summer, making our best attempts not to clash with another nearby con.

[Aquaryan 42]

Well, I know that I am already looking forward to next year's.

[Silvershock 69]

I'm not 100% on the multiquoting thing here, so bear with me...

 

POSITIVE:

 

One of the highlights was witnessing all the Bronies mingling with each other.  There was a lot of socialization and encouragement from each other.  Athough I was among the "older" crowd, it warmed my heart to see that the younger generation are learning how to be better without judgement.

 

 

Very glad to hear that people were getting along well and meeting new folks. That's more important than anything, especially at a con like ours, and it's one of the things that I personally aim for, because it makes me happy to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshoot for the Cosplayers should have been in a bigger room, as it was way too small for everyone to take pictures.

 

You're absolutely right. We heard that from a number of people. The simple answer to that is: we didn't expect there to be so many of you! I opened the doors early because I couldn't believe how jammed the corridor was getting. I don't know whether it was the theme we had this year, or just a side effect of having more attendees, but we had TONS of cosplayers this year. We'll make sure to have more room for you in 2015.

 

My experience was all around positive. For constructive criticism, I think I would say that I wish more panels took place on days 1 and 3. Day 2 had the most going on by far. I guess it's kind of a good thing, mind you, that there wad enough of a break in the action on the third day.

 

This was an unintentional side-effect of when the guests were available to attend. As season 5 and EQG2 were both being worked on, the DHX staff and crew were especially busy this year. A number of the guests were only able to attend for a portion of the convention rather than all of it, so their events were crammed into a single day. (Incidentally, this is also why the bullying panel was unfortunately canned. We'll see if we can bring that back.)

 

This is more of a personal suggestion for BronyCAN 2015, but if there's an overlap in the fandoms it might be to the convention's benefit: Make sure next year's convention isn't the same weekend as the WorldCon being held next year in Spokane.

 

I'm gonna hold my hand up here and say that the clash with AR is entirely my fault. I checked with every convention I could possibly think of before I signed the contract, to make sure we weren't overlapping this year, and somehow missed Anime Revolution! 

 

That said, there are so many cons during the summer we're bound to conflict with something, somewhere. BUCK, for example, called their dates several months after ours, and happened to be on the same weekend for the second year running. D'oh!

 

We'll do our best to minimise conflicts, but sometimes it's out of our hands.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

I'm gonna hold my hand up here and say that the clash with AR is entirely my fault. I checked with every convention I could possibly think of before I signed the contract, to make sure we weren't overlapping this year, and somehow missed Anime Revolution!

 

I wasn't a member of AR, so it didn't affect me, but I can see why you'd try to minimize that. I only mention WorldCon for next year because it will be within driving distance of the Lower Mainland for the first time in a long time, and they are also in late August, so it might impact attendance for next year's convention. (And, full disclosure, I'm already going to WorldCon, but I'd like to do BronyCAN too! )

 

For reference, here's the WorldCon website: http://www.sasquan.org