Whither Anime Boston? An Open Letter to NEAS and my fellow Otaku

[Master of NERV]

When I was pondering this post, I was planning to merely add it to the torrent of commentary on the feedback forum. However, after realizing I had nothing new to add that hadn't been said a dozen times already, I felt I had to take a different approach if I had something to say.

First, please don’t be startled by the Middle English! The word whither survives today only as a literary device; it means, “to what place or state”. In context, my question means simply, “Where is Anime Boston going?”

I already know what some of you are thinking. Let’s put that aside for the moment and take a quick look at the recent past.

April 15, 2013: the Boston Marathon bombing. Anime Boston opens five weeks later on May 24, and handily survives its first encounter with mandatory bag checks. Indeed, for us otaku, the bombing proved far from a deterrent: attendance dropped less that 2% from the previous year. Anime Boston Strong!

However, in the three ABs since 2013, security has tightened—and so has the tension between Hynes/Pru security and AB attendees. If reports are accurate (and based on what I’ve seen with my own eyes, I see little reason to doubt anyone’s word), things have gone from one or two overly loud and irritating guards to full-blown confrontations, from the occasional, (mostly) common-sense removal of a prop weapon to reports of arbitrary confiscations and outright vandalism of what remains private property. Then came the metal detectors, and what was once a mere limp with bag check alone became a tortuous crawl. The situation is approaching toxic levels, and perhaps it’s only a matter of time before we see the first arrest for disorderly conduct.

Security is only half of the equation that brewed the perfect storm that was this year’s event—the other is attendance. Between 2013 and 2015 (don’t have this year’s numbers yet), the con has ballooned by 24.4%. This has had its own unfortunate consequences: in 2015, there was the unannounced “push out the door” on Saturday (I can still recall seeing pieces of broken cosplay blowing down the street). And while this year we were given ample warning, the inconsistent, unpredictable, and seemingly random management of the lines left behind a foul taste in the mouths of many attendees, including myself.

Taken together, these factors inspire the image of a growing plaque (security) clogging the arteries of an already obese and hypertensive patient (our body of attendees). The only question is which will come first: a ruptured aneurysm, with otaku abandoning Anime Boston out of frustration and disgust, or a coronary on a Saturday afternoon that will stop the convention dead in its tracks.

As I see it, Anime Boston is at a crossroads. It has not outgrown the Hynes—yet (though the attendance cap shows we’re pushing even its limits). It has not outgrown the Sheraton and spillover hotels nearby, nor Boston's transportation infrastructure (say what you want about the T). What is has outgrown is its environment—an environment that is under the jurisdiction of increasingly short-tempered, even resentful individuals. (We attendees aren’t blind—between the muttered sniping of mall shoppers, stink-eyes from the occasional store clerk, and the overbearing manner of some security guards, it’s clear that AB is not well received at the Pru.)

Now…what to do?

Convince the state government to waive bag check? Not gonna happen. Waive metal detectors and bomb sniffing dogs? Not gonna happen either. In fact, if the state of the world gets much worse (see: Brussels), I can easily imagine cosplays being dismantled if metal is found inside. As I see it, the ball is in NEAS’s court to take the decisive and required step. To wit:

Anime Boston needs to go on a diet.

I do not make this comment lightly—not at all. NEAS is a non-profit, and every penny goes back to prepare the next year’s event. Further, we are not privy to convention finances—nor should we be!—so we happy otaku have no idea what advance payments and fees must be made to the MCCA, hotels, vendors, and various state and city authorities. Nonetheless, I stand by my assertion. The only real question is how deep AB needs to cut back.

My proposal is a cap of no greater than 20,000, which historically would put it on a par with AB 2011 (19,136). This would be a trim of just under 30% from 2015, yet still provide the convention a viable revenue stream (hopefully, with but a modest rise in badge prices). The recent sponsorship by Crunchyroll is also a hopeful sign, albeit one not entirely reliable.

Nor am I blind to the potential loss to the show itself. We can only afford to bring over three guests from Japan and not four? Possibly. Have to cut back a bit on American guests? Probably. Only two musical guests next year? May have to deal. Sell out the entire con in pre-reg months in advance? If need be. But I submit that leaving things as they are is simply not an option. And I maintain that any shortcomings would be far from crippling.

To illustrate my point, let’s look back to AB 2011. I’ve created a few links within the con site that detail the scope and achievements of that event. Please take a moment and take a good look at what NEAS accomplished that year. I’ll wait.

AB 2011 Vital Statistics

http://www.animeboston.com/coninfo/convention_history/

AB 2011 Schedule

http://www.animeboston.com/coninfo/schedule/2011

AB 2011 Guests

http://www.animeboston.com/guests/guest_listing/2011

AB 2011 Dealers

http://www.animeboston.com/exhibits/dea ... sting/2011

AB 2011 Artist Alley

http://www.animeboston.com/artists/arti ... sting/2011

AB 2011 Memories

viewforum.php?f=129

AB 2011 Photo Gallery

http://gallery.animeboston.com/index.php?cat=40

Hello again! As you’ve seen, NEAS put on one hell of a show five years ago, supported by the revenue of but 17,236 attendees from the prior year. Hopefully, it's brought back some fond memories from all who were there.

I have absolutely no doubt that today’s NEAS can pull off an event just as entertaining and satisfying…and with the benefit of shorter lines, fewer chances to butt heads with the security we must all now live with, and (I humbly submit) with a lot less stress and clamor.

Something to think about! And thanks for your indulgence.

Yours in anime fandom,

“Master of NERV”

P.S.: I’ve already pre-reged for 2017. See you there!

[Anna-neko]

...for some reason I feel that even if the event is only 10,000 people... the Pru/Hynes will find a way to make us wait somewhere for an hour & will be ruder than ever

[reaper527]

worth mentioning, your making a pretty big assumption that cutting the count down to 2011 levels will make things manageable.

saturday night after dinner, i re-entered the hynes through the pru entrance around 10:45pm. naturally, that late at night the metal detector line was pretty short. it STILL took 15-20 minutes to get through. (i can't imagine what those lines must have been like during peak hours for the people who weren't lucky enough to go in through artist alley on friday/saturday)

you'd likely have to cut attendance down to a point where the con feels like a ghost town for the security theater to not be a huge burden upon entry. assuming pax ends up being just as big of a mess in a few weeks, hopefully ab and pax combined will have enough influence to get the mcca to back off and stop being dumb and roll back the requirements to bag checks circa 2015.

In fact, if the state of the world gets much worse (see: Brussels),

ironic you mention brussels. lets not forget, brussels is a prime example of why this security theater doesn't work. it just made the large crowd of people stuck in the processing area the target.

[Victablook]

Ah yes, I do remember the first round of bag checks back in 2013. It seemed efficient and a lot quicker (which is good, since it was my first AB and I needed a good impression). If only Boston police can hold back and return to those regulations as you've said, then it'd at least still be okay.

[unclejeb1861]

To my understanding, Anime Boston was within 500-2500 attendees of hitting the overall cap this year. Anime Boston has always been quick to respond to issues regarding the convention, and I personally expect line times to decrease next year rather than increase. I am confident AB will get the word out about the additional entrances on Boylston, Dalton, and at the Sheraton (assuming regular con-goers will get that) effectively enough that attendees will be aware of these alternative to the main entrance (and if con-goers are too helpless to do so, then that is their own fault).

Personally, rather than attempt to cut attendance by around 35% (which would likely make registration significantly more expensive and unfeasible for the convention to operate on), I would like to see AB attempt a second event. If you had a convention every six months, you would likely get some guests who would only want to or be able to afford one. I imagine plenty of attendees would go to both, but overall I would guess neither convention would get close to hitting 30k. To offset costs, AB may be able to strike deals with local vendors / MCCA to get cheaper rates since the con would be bringing in double the business. Not saying that creating two Boston area conventions would be the right way to go, but it is not the craziest idea

[H. Guderian]

I'm with Uncle on this. I'd prefer a 2nd event. I'd probably attend both events, but I would also feel less pressured to attend each and every single day. Perhaps then, there is some solution in the duration of the con itself? The planners have more data than I, so I'd also like to look into maybe the con getting an extra day? Fewer days would certainly put on the squeeze, so expansion in the other direction might help?

Also, maybe some sorta internal bag storage inside the Hynes would allow attendees the freedom to drop off their bags within the bag check, and then be able to get out of the Hynes without the fear of the lines, assuming we can get a swift no-bag line check?

[Nemra]

Also, maybe some sorta internal bag storage inside the Hynes would allow attendees the freedom to drop off their bags within the bag check, and then be able to get out of the Hynes without the fear of the lines, assuming we can get a swift no-bag line check?

bag/coat check already exists. Right across from the dealer's room (near the metal detectors this year from the pru side). $1 per item.

[Faceman]

I'm sorry I've taken so long to respond to this thread. There's definitely a lot of thought put into these posts. I wanted to make sure that I put in an equal amount of thought into my response as President of NEAS.

I don't think anyone will disagree that Anime Boston 2016 didn't live up to our usual expectations of excellence. Between the issues with Registration on Friday and the security lines into the Hynes Convention Center it was, quite frankly, an embarrassing situation. The staff of Anime Boston work hard all year to put on the best show we can, and this year we fell short of our target. Victor Lee has made a post covering the details of what unfolded to cause these issues.

I want to state that I am sincerely grateful for all of you who give us feedback (whether here on the forums or at our feedback panel). Sometimes we spend so much time running Anime Boston that we can have a hard time looking at it from the other side. All of you keep us grounded and give us balanced perspectives.

All that being said, I would like to address some of the suggestions made here. While I won't go into the depths of our operating budget and procedures, I will try to shed a little light on them. For a little background on myself, I joined Anime Boston as Webmaster in June 2009. I was elected to the NEAS Board of Directors in May 2011. I also served as NEAS Clerk from 2013-2015, and have been serving as President since 2015. In addition I have been serving as AB's Assistant Director of Public Relations since 2015. I've worn a lot of hats and have seen AB from several view points.

The current operating budget of Anime Boston (the annual event), is in the $1.5 million range. This isn't including NEAS's own operating budget which takes care of other expenses like legal fees, accounting fees, storage, state registrations, insurances, etc. NEAS is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and as such our revenue to expense ratios are quite thin. We price Anime Boston memberships at the rate that we believe we need to to break even for that year. If there are any excess assets from an annual Anime Boston they are directed back to NEAS. NEAS uses that money to pay for other long-term expenses and to ultimately funnel back into the next Anime Boston's operation and survival. Absolutely none of that money goes into any of our pockets. From the President of NEAS to the first year Security staffer, we are all unpaid volunteers.

We do everything we can to keep membership costs low because we know our main demographic (people under the age of 25) cannot afford expensive tickets. For AB2016, our lowest registration cost was $50 for an Adult Membership if you registered at AB2015. After that we started at $55 pre-reg, and increased to $65 at the door (with a $5 discount for cash payment). Our expenses will go up over time (just like everyone else's) and we hold off raising registration rates as long as we can. When we do raise them, it is because it is our last option to balance AB's budget.

Whenever we do increase our membership prices, we also know we just priced ourselves out of what a portion of our attendees can afford. For many people that $5 price increase is too much. Whether they don't believe our event is worth a $5 increase, would rather spend their money elsewhere, or simply can't afford it. Everyone has their own thresholds of what they'll spend. Personally, I'd rather someone not attend AB if it meant choosing between us and making rent, eating that week, or another difficult financial decision.

As we lose a certain percentage of our attendees, we also have to fill in that headcount again somehow. That's where our growth comes into play. The more we grow our attendance numbers, the more stable we'll become fiscally. Also as our expenses increase, the higher attendance numbers means we can hold off on increasing our prices for another year or two. That helps prevent the turnover issue to a degree. The higher headcount also gives us more financial wiggle room. It helps when a surprise opportunity comes along that costs us a little more money to produce, or we go over budget a bit, or there's an unexpected event beyond our control.

It's snowing right now in Boston, on April 4th. In 1997 Boston received over 2 feet of snow on April 1st. If a similar weather event occurred on our convention weekend, how many people would decide not to come? There's a thousand different things that could happen and make people second guess whether to attend Anime Boston. And we can control none of them. The best we can do to prepare is cast our net wide and hope we can entice enough people to come. But we need to also be able to accommodate all of them.

I think the last part is maybe where we're at now. We've done a good job of attracting attention and increasing our memberships to Anime Boston. But now we're in a bit of a growing pains - an awkward teenage years, if you will - where we have to perfect the operation of our event. And it's not just our own operation, but the operations of the MCCA & Hynes, Sheraton, Hilton, Prudential, and the city. And as the world changes each of them is going to have changing needs. Our new challenges in the upcoming years will be to balance what we've already accomplished with meeting the needs and expectations of our partners.

Our event is also different from what many of our facility partners are familiar with. For starters our attendees are much younger and more energetic than their standard Dentist convention or Bridal show. Many other events take place in one location: The Hynes, the Sheraton, OR the Hilton. Doing all three at once is different and has different demands. It's something we need to have to figure out if we want to continue having a successful event.

As for the suggestion that NEAS put on a second event each year, I can see where you're coming from. It could spread out the demand and strain from one event to two. But it also presents it's own set of challenges.

The first I can think of is the financial investment. NEAS attempted to run a second event back in 2008, Providence Anime Conference. I don't blame you if you've never heard of it. PAC's attendance was under 400 people. I didn't even know about it at the time (having attended AB since 2005). NEAS put a lot of money into PAC: facility down payments, hotel room blocks, supplies, food & accommodations for staff. NEAS then proceeded to loose a lot of money from PAC.

Any new convention is going to be a significant risk financially. That's why you see so many first year cons promise great things and subsequently fold. If you can't get the numbers to pay the bills, that's the end of you. Even for Anime Boston, there's a period every year (usually Saturday of the con) where we officially sell the final membership we need to break even. Everything after that is gravy. But until we make that sale we're holding our breath.

That brings us back to the excess assets I mentioned earlier. NEAS takes that excess and holds it in reserve as a rainy day fund for Anime Boston. If some catastrophe did befall the convention one year and we came up super short, we'd like to be able to pay all the bills still. Our immediate goal is to save up 50% of AB's operating costs, but we're still a few years from meeting that goal. Even then that would be only half of what AB costs. If we failed to pay the bills it would be the end of Anime Boston.

If NEAS took its capital and invested it into a new event, we'd be removing that financial safety net from Anime Boston. So not only would be be taking a risk on the new event, we'd be putting significant risk to Anime Boston as well.

In terms of facilities, there's a high demand for conference and convention centers in the southern New England area. If we did want to start a new event, it would likely be years before a venue would be available. And then we'd also have to find dates that we could both afford (which is why Anime Boston occurs on Easter frequently) and that doesn't conflict with other conventions, whether major cons in North America or local cons in New England. If we had to fight other events for attendees, it would make it that much harder to get off the ground.

Not to pile on, but there's also the need of staffing to consider. Anime Boston 2016 had over 500 staff members. Out of those, I'd venture at least 200 work in some capacity year-round for Anime Boston. Managing departments, recruiting new staff members, booking guests, and everything else that goes into putting on this event takes a massive portion of our daily lives. Asking our staff to do it for a second event each year would be unrealistic of us. Finding a whole new set of people who could pull it off to the same caliber that AB does would be nigh impossible.

My apologies for the quite long-winded post. And I realize a lot of what I've said could be taken as being a Debbie-Downer towards all of your suggestions. Please understand that it has not been my intention to do so. I truly do value all of your input and suggestions, as well as your passion for this thing we do. Anime Boston should be a fun event for everyone to attend as well as those who staff it. If it's no longer fun for people to come to, then we're not doing our jobs.

At the end of the day NEAS is still a corporation and we do have a business. Our business is putting on a kick-ass anime convention that we hope you'll all continue to love. But we have to balance the need for it to be fun and entertaining with the need for it to be a successful business. Some may view fun and business as being polar opposites. I try to look at them as two sides of the same coin; a symbiotic relationship. If either side fails to succeed, the other side will perish as well.

Thank you for your support, your understanding, and your passion.

Chris O'Connell
President
The New England Anime Society, Inc.
chris.oconnell@neanime.org

[pulsedemon]

For what it's worth, as the pinch-hitter chairman brought in to try to clean things up in Providence, I could point to a number of things that caused things to hurt so much for that event. The fact remains that it was definitely difficult to pull off a second event, even with a team of proven individuals. Doing it with 'more people' made up of a larger percentage of unproven individuals would be even more difficult. I could also point at any number of first-year events that either fail to launch or never have a second year as additional evidence of how difficult things can prove to be.

Chris didn't say it explicitly, but deliberately limiting the size of the event to 20000 people means we can't present the same show you're used to having. We've gotten pretty good at estimating what kind of revenue we can expect to see each year, but it's still terrifying every time. There's no Scrooge McDuck swimming in a money bin after these shows. We could probably monetize a lot more things, but that's not what we've been doing and we like to think it makes a lot of experiences better for it.

[Anna-neko]

super long post here

wow, very informative and long reply! (still don't understand how Hynes/MCCA can't deal with us animu kids tho. They've been getting our brand of crazy for a decade now, do they just pick the rudest least-prepared staff for that week or what?)

but.. uh.. sir.. u keep using "loose" where it clearly should be "lose" Yes, I am completely being that guy

The grammar dalek has spoken

[Nemra]

super long post here

but.. uh.. sir.. u keep using "loose" where it clearly should be "lose" Yes, I am completely being that guy

The grammar dalek has spoken

I have no idea what you're talkin about

[Master of NERV]

Dear Mr. O'Connell~~

I can't put into words how appreciative I am for your post and Mr. Lee's. This kind of transparency and stand-up attitude is something you see far too seldom these days.

I'm sorry I've taken so long to respond to this thread. There's definitely a lot of thought put into these posts. I wanted to make sure that I put in an equal amount of thought into my response as President of NEAS.

Please don't sweat it! You've given us a wealth of experience and information that no attendee would ever expect--and, quite frankly, would never be rude enough to ask for.

We price Anime Boston memberships at the rate that we believe we need to to break even for that year.

Ow. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

Absolutely none of that money goes into any of our pockets. From the President of NEAS to the first year Security staffer, we are all unpaid volunteers.

It's sad how often I'm forced to remind people of this, every year...

Even for Anime Boston, there's a period every year (usually Saturday of the con) where we officially sell the final membership we need to break even. Everything after that is gravy. But until we make that sale we're holding our breath.

Son of Ow!

My apologies for the quite long-winded post. And I realize a lot of what I've said could be taken as being a Debbie-Downer towards all of your suggestions. Please understand that it has not been my intention to do so. I truly do value all of your input and suggestions, as well as your passion for this thing we do. Anime Boston should be a fun event for everyone to attend as well as those who staff it. If it's no longer fun for people to come to, then we're not doing our jobs.

Nonsense. It's great to receive such a thorough reality check. And be assured of one thing: you and your staff are doing your jobs, organizers and blue shirts and security alike. Unfortunately, it's an unpleasant handful among your partners that are poisoning all your efforts.

Thank you for your support, your understanding, and your passion.

You have it, especially that last part.

See you all in 2017, our 15th event! Gotta break out my "I was here FIRST!" t-shirt (and where's that blue lanyard?..)

[Mamacass]

Me (& my family) will be pre-registering for AB17 while we are at ConnectiCon this July.
This will be my 7th time going, my daughter's 6th time going, and my son's 5th time going.

[Faceman]

Me (& my family) will be pre-registering for AB17 while we are at ConnectiCon this July.
This will be my 7th time going, my daughter's 6th time going, and my son's 5th time going.

Thank you for making Anime Boston an annual tradition for your family!!

[Mamacass]

We're Trying

[THX1139]

As far as I could tell, once people got inside they had fun and enjoyed themselves. From talking to some cosplayer I get the impression they were thrilled to be at AB. I would say Anime Boston does provide a service for the public good.

Maybe when cosplayers found out they would be waiting outside, it turned some of them away. I would think the only cap on attendance would be the fire department limit. Or what AB staff could handle.

I am very impressed that AB management and staff are all volunteers. That a convention of this size is operated so well. I have had experience with a few all volunteer organization. Things don’t always go smoothly.

I picked up my AB2017 pre-registering at Japan Festival.

Thank all of the AB staff for their hard work.
Tom