Post NYCC/NYAF 2011 with Peter Tatara Part 5

Please read Part 4 of the interview before reading Part 5

Facing the Concerns continuation

Continuing with the subject of the IGN Theatre events, I read on Medium At Large, that after the conclusion of the events, the room will not be cleared out. This situation is similar to events like San Diego Comic-Con, where the rooms are not cleared out either. If one were allowed to enter the room, one is permitted to stay in there for the duration of the day. “While clearing out rooms may sound like a good idea,” said Tatara, “moving, storing, and sorting 3,000+ people every hour quickly escalates to something that wouldn't fit inside the Javits.” Since attendees from prior events are allowed to stay, what can other attendees do to get into the later events? Simply put, “if you want to get into the IGN Theater, the recommendation is to get there early. Same thing as with San Diego, if you want to get into their Hall H, you need to get there early.”

Thinking about the different solutions to this situation, I thought of a couple of possibilities to accommodated the fans. One idea for the IGN Theatre events, including the Masquerade, is to have a ticketing process up to the maximum seating. This would be more fair to the other attendees, prevent overcrowding and follow fire safety regulations. This is was done at Anime Boston, a convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. However, in relation to NYCC and NYAF, Tatara spotted a few scenarios that will likely occur if this path was taken:

“What happens if people scalp these tickets or want to pick up tickets for a friend -- or what if a person with a ticket never shows up? There are a lot of different questions and directions around ticketing for panels. More, would we just then turn a line for the panel into a line for tickets? It's something we're talking about, but it's not likely the road we'll go down in 2012.”

The second solution that I thought of was to have these events screened in another room for those who can not gain access to the IGN Theatre. I asked Tatara if this can be a possibility, and he said, “Yes. In brief, yes. In a bit more detail, yes, this is something I want to do in 2012. I can't, though, say anything more yet.”

Conclusion

The convention excitement is over, however, for ReedPop the thrill of the convention is still glowing. “While NYCC 2011's afterglow has begun to wear off, we're already well into discussions and long-lead-time plans for 2012.”

Some final words from Tatara on behalf of himself and ReedPop:

”I thank you and everyone for coming to NYCC 2011. It was our biggest show yet, with some of the largest guests and panels and exhibitors, too. It flowed much more smoothly, too, than 2010. We're very happy of what we together built, but we're always looking to improve and listening to attendees' feedback. Write to me, Kim, Lance. We're looking forward to jointly building an even bigger, better show in 2012.”

© 2011 Linda Thai

Photography by Linda Thai
NYCC/NYAF 2012 Header from Press Release

Thank you Peter Tatara for participating in the interview! Thank you for reading!

To learn more about the conventions check out the New York Comic Con and New York Anime Festival, check out the website.

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