Anime Boston

In order to streamline seating for the Masquerade, Anime Boston will be using a ticket system.

Tickets will be FREE to all attendees and handed out while supplies last on Saturday, April 3rd, starting at 10am at the table next to the Anime Boston merchandise booth in the Dealers' Room (Exhibit Hall A side entrance across from the Cafeteria). There will be three types of tickets: Main Events Floor, Main Events Balcony, and the Simulcast Room (Exhibit Hall D).

One ticket will be issued per person and guarantees the ticket holder a seat in that area. Anime Boston is not responsible for lost/misplaced tickets however if tickets are lost, seats will be available in the Simulcast Room after those with tickets have been seated. Attendees will not be allowed to line up for the Masquerade before 4pm. There will be a line for each ticket type. Floor ticket holders will line up outside of the Main Events (Auditorium) entrance, balcony ticket holders will line up on the 3rd floor along the windows, and the simulcast ticket holders will line up on the wall outside Exhibit Hall D.

Only downside to this: there will be a line for that in front of the Dealer's Room in addition to the normal line of people waiting to get into the Dealer's Room on Saturday morning. I guess best I can hope for is that not everyone visits the AB site and won't know about it until they get to the con and read their conbooks...which many don't. ^_^

The simulcast room is a great idea. As is a separate line for the balcony section (climbing the stairs to it from inside the auditorium: not fun)

Awesome idea! :thumbup:

People running events and panels on Saturday should be excited that they have more of a crowd to entertain. Speaking of which... Will Lou (or, perhaps someone from programming) be providing additional information regarding masq seating with this new system for panelists as in years past?

[quote=BasharOfTheAges] be providing additional information regarding masq seating with this new system for panelists as in years past?[/quote]
Its reserved seating for qualified people as per usual

I agree with Fetch on this. There will now be a line in the morning to get tickets haha.

But good idea :thumbup: I support it!!!!

[quote=danim]I agree with Fetch on this. There will now be a line in the morning to get tickets haha.

But good idea :thumbup: I support it!!!! [/quote]

There will always be lines.

Hells, I stood in line for 4 hours at 6:30am for a beer a week and a half ago.
The only way to eliminate the lines is to do all the ticketing online before the con, and that wouldn't be fair to those whom don't pre-register.

[quote=Keithel]Hells, I stood in line for 4 hours at 6:30am for a beer a week and a half ago.[/quote]

KEITH YOU ARE OFFICIALLY MY HERO!
(I don't think I have EVER drank a beer before noon... they fact that I am rarely AWAKE before noon if not at work probably plays into this a bit though...)

That being said this is an awesome idea and I am glad to see some sort of ticketing taking place.

Any idea of this will someday be extended to include all "major" Main Events such as concerts?

[quote=Keithel]The only way to eliminate the lines is to do all the ticketing online before the con, and that wouldn't be fair to those whom don't pre-register.[/quote]

So, have separate allotments for pre-registrations and on-site registrations?

You could do the same thing they do with concert tickets here and implement a lottery system. For example, when you pre-reg, you get to choose A) whether or not you want a Masq ticket/how many and B) what section you'd be interested in. Computer randomly picks winners who are notified by email and can get their ticket when they pick up their badge, losers can try their luck waiting for tickets.


Sure you have more bawwwing from people who don't get tickets, but they're going to bawww no matter what, and it means that you can keep the line smaller on Saturday because you have fewer tickets to give away. So, it's not a perfect solution but it's a step in the right direction.

[quote=ladyhawke78]
Any idea of this will someday be extended to include all "major" Main Events such as concerts?
[/quote]

It's just being tried out with masq, anything beyond this year is unknown.

[quote=Keithel][quote=danim]I agree with Fetch on this. There will now be a line in the morning to get tickets haha.

But good idea :thumbup: I support it!!!! [/quote]

There will always be lines.

Hells, I stood in line for 4 hours at 6:30am for a beer a week and a half ago.
The only way to eliminate the lines is to do all the ticketing online before the con, and that wouldn't be fair to those whom don't pre-register.[/quote]

4 HOURS for a BEER?! O_O

Of course there will always be lines That's just the way it is.

Maybe putting a time limit on the ticket line?

Although, too many restrictions and I think there will be more bawing than not. I think you'll have complainers who plan their Saturday around waiting in line for the masquerade. It is what it is lol.

[quote=dokool][quote=Keithel]The only way to eliminate the lines is to do all the ticketing online before the con, and that wouldn't be fair to those whom don't pre-register.[/quote]

So, have separate allotments for pre-registrations and on-site registrations?

You could do the same thing they do with concert tickets here and implement a lottery system. For example, when you pre-reg, you get to choose A) whether or not you want a Masq ticket/how many and B) what section you'd be interested in. Computer randomly picks winners who are notified by email and can get their ticket when they pick up their badge, losers can try their luck waiting for tickets.


Sure you have more bawwwing from people who don't get tickets, but they're going to bawww no matter what, and it means that you can keep the line smaller on Saturday because you have fewer tickets to give away. So, it's not a perfect solution but it's a step in the right direction.[/quote]

With the small amount of people that go to the in person pre-reg events, perhaps they getting tickets for the Masq automatically would be good, except that some of them might not want to see it or might even be IN it, and that leaves empty seats, which is something the AB staff doesn't want.
This is only the 8th AB. They'll get this sort of thing all figured out by the 10th. Maybe the 15th. Would you believe the 20th? ^_-

First off, it's far too late in the game for any pre-reg considerations such as raffle or in-person events. (Which is also unfair to out of state people)

Second, the line for the Masq tickets will not be THAT bad because there's a huge difference between a line that keeps moving as tickets are given out and a line that stays stagnant for a few hours for an event.

Question- I want to go to the masquerade, but there's a chance I might go a bit late because of my panel.

If I get a ticket in the morning, will I still be allowed into the masquerade if I get there a little bit late?

[quote=Fetch][quote=dokool][quote=Keithel]The only way to eliminate the lines is to do all the ticketing online before the con, and that wouldn't be fair to those whom don't pre-register.[/quote]

So, have separate allotments for pre-registrations and on-site registrations?

You could do the same thing they do with concert tickets here and implement a lottery system. For example, when you pre-reg, you get to choose A) whether or not you want a Masq ticket/how many and B) what section you'd be interested in. Computer randomly picks winners who are notified by email and can get their ticket when they pick up their badge, losers can try their luck waiting for tickets.


Sure you have more bawwwing from people who don't get tickets, but they're going to bawww no matter what, and it means that you can keep the line smaller on Saturday because you have fewer tickets to give away. So, it's not a perfect solution but it's a step in the right direction.[/quote]

With the small amount of people that go to the in person pre-reg events, perhaps they getting tickets for the Masq automatically would be good, except that some of them might not want to see it or might even be IN it, and that leaves empty seats, which is something the AB staff doesn't want.
This is only the 8th AB. They'll get this sort of thing all figured out by the 10th. Maybe the 15th. Would you believe the 20th? ^_-[/quote]

First, I meant for that to be a idea for future years. Just brainstorming and all.

Second, you overlooked the part where I said you had to opt-in instead of it being 100% automatic. Reading comprehension is fun for the whole family!

I applaud this announcement.

In 2007, I stood in line ALL day Saturday for the Masquerade. Thankfully, my group and I lined up in a giant rectangle thing (sorry can't think of it) part of the hallway, and we were across from some Naruto cosplayers, who were wicked cool. We kept ourselves entertained by having "butt races" across the floor.

If it wasn't for the Naruto group, my experience would have been pretty poor.

Still, there is SO much to do, why would you guys willingly stand in line all day? Check out a panel, go to the artists alley, go to the Dealers room. If you don't want to do any "in con" things, climb the Sky Tower thingy in the Pru.

And now with these tickets, you don't have to waste one third of the con standing in line. Simply a lovely idea, I'm glad it came into existence.

I think the mentioning of the "extra" line seems kind of excessive...perhaps half of the tickets can be somewhere else (like a table all by itself for example) instead of just on Dealers Room Merch

By keeping the tickets in one spot, it is easier to keep track of how many have been passed out. Besides, there will be extra hands available to hand them out, so everything should move quickly.

[quote=Eilonnwy]First off, it's far too late in the game for any pre-reg considerations such as raffle or in-person events. (Which is also unfair to out of state people)

Second, the line for the Masq tickets will not be THAT bad because there's a huge difference between a line that keeps moving as tickets are given out and a line that stays stagnant for a few hours for an event. [/quote]

Oh I don't doubt that it will keep moving. I was thinking more along the lines of those people who get in line early to be sure they get a ticket. Then the latecomers may not get tickets. I wasn't referring to the same type of line, aside from the line waiting for the tickets to be handed out.

Either way it's much better than an all day line for the masquerade

The good news... this will kill the lining up 5 hours before the Masquerade tradition.

The bad news... it kills the 'record the Masquerade line' idea I had.

I'm loving the simulcast idea, but is the main events hall really filling to capacity? I mean its come close, but I could easily be wrong.

[quote=GMSenpai]
I'm loving the simulcast idea, but is the main events hall really filling to capacity? I mean its come close, but I could easily be wrong.[/quote]

For masquerade it does, there's always people that get blocked out.

[quote=danim]4 HOURS for a BEER?! O_O[/quote]
It was a very special beer, made once a year, and is gone in hours.

Good grief, tickets for the con, tickets for raffles, tickets for the blood drive, tickets for the masquerade, tickets for the ball, you guys are handing out more tickets than the NYPD.

:/ there are no tickets for the con. Badges and tickets are very different things

This is a wonderful idea, thank you! (from someone who was seated so that I couldn't see the stage or screens hardly at all in 2008...!)

[quote=GMSenpai]The good news... this will kill the lining up 5 hours before the Masquerade tradition.

The bad news... it kills the 'record the Masquerade line' idea I had.
[/quote]

You can still film the line...people are still allowed to line up at 4. And even if they have tickets, there are some people that have established tradition to stand in line. I think you still have a pretty good shot at getting DECENT masq line footage. It just won't be the same as previous years.

[quote=Keithel][quote=danim]4 HOURS for a BEER?! O_O[/quote]
It was a very special beer, made once a year, and is gone in hours. [/quote]

Well, then that's understandable. I've waited in my share of those kinds of lines myself

...and despite my complaining, I'm always sitting in event lines for hours as well...I plan what I go to based on the lines I have to sit in lol.

[quote=Phantom 1]Good grief, tickets for the con, tickets for raffles, tickets for the blood drive, tickets for the masquerade, tickets for the ball, you guys are handing out more tickets than the NYPD.[/quote]

Hahaha :thumbup:
That's funny, but it's understandable, in my opinion, when you look at the alternative.

[quote=Phantom 1]Good grief, tickets for the con, tickets for raffles, tickets for the blood drive, tickets for the masquerade, tickets for the ball, you guys are handing out more tickets than the NYPD.[/quote]

On the plus side, almost all of those are voluntary! If you're not a fan of tickets, you can avoid them by not doing autographs, the masquarade, the ball, or attempting to win free stuff. :content:

OK so here is my question. If you need priority seating due to a disability, how does this ticketing system affect us?

[quote=MarmaladeChainsaw84]OK so here is my question. If you need priority seating due to a disability, how does this ticketing system affect us?[/quote]


Same as usual except you'll need a ticket. Get a ticket and then when you enter the auditorium we'll help you find seating appropriate to your needs.

Ah alright thanks. I wanted to make sure before I went through a huge headache and missed the masq. So I take it I would get tickets for the floor seating if I can?

[quote=MarmaladeChainsaw84]Ah alright thanks. I wanted to make sure before I went through a huge headache and missed the masq. So I take it I would get tickets for the floor seating if I can?[/quote]
Yeah, but if you do get stuck with Balcony, we probably will be able to seat you on the main floor if that is what your needs are.

Yes it would be thanks so much for your help.

Could someone please answer my question? I think it got lost in the discussion. ^^;

[quote=Chaobunny]Question- I want to go to the masquerade, but there's a chance I might go a bit late because of my panel.

If I get a ticket in the morning, will I still be allowed into the masquerade if I get there a little bit late?[/quote]

Per the Announcement:

One ticket will be issued per person and [color:red]guarantees[/color] the ticket holder a seat in that area. Anime Boston is not responsible for lost/misplaced tickets however if tickets are lost, seats will be available in the Simulcast Room after those with tickets have been seated. ....

This is an amazing idea. Hats off to the AB staff for continuously coming up with ideas to better everyones experience and making AB run smoother for everyone.

Thank you!!!

It's a tangential question, I know, but with setting up all the tech in the overflow room, is it going to be used for anything else? It seems like a huge room that could almost be a 2nd main stage area.

That thought alone excites me far too much from a programming perspective - and i'm not even staff.

[quote=BasharOfTheAges]It's a tangential question, I know, but with setting up all the tech in the overflow room, is it going to be used for anything else? It seems like a huge room that could almost be a 2nd main stage area.

That thought alone excites me far too much from a programming perspective - and i'm not even staff.[/quote]

It will be used as more than a simulcast room. Due to the stage requirements and rehearsal time for VGO, some events traditionally in the Auditorium will be held in the Auxiliary Events room (Hall D) and it will also host alternate programming during the concert.

Are panelists/AMV editors getting preferred seating this year? If so, is it possible for me to give my seat to a friend since I will be IN the masq? Just curious...

[quote=Kiarrens]Are panelists/AMV editors getting preferred seating this year? If so, is it possible for me to give my seat to a friend since I will be IN the masq? Just curious...[/quote]

Panelists and AMV finalists do have seating. So you may have 2 tickets? They are seated in separate sections though (panels on the floor, AMVs in the balcony since I know you guys like to sit up there)

Anyways, Its up to lou/adam if you can do that since panelists badges do get marked and I'm not sure what adam is going to do to mark the AMV finalists

[quote=Eimi][quote=Kiarrens]Are panelists/AMV editors getting preferred seating this year? If so, is it possible for me to give my seat to a friend since I will be IN the masq? Just curious...[/quote]

Panelists and AMV finalists do have seating. So you may have 2 tickets? They are seated in separate sections though (panels on the floor, AMVs in the balcony since I know you guys like to sit up there)

Anyways, Its up to lou/adam if you can do that since panelists badges do get marked and I'm not sure what adam is going to do to mark the AMV finalists[/quote]

Panelists get preferred seating? I didn't know that.

Does that apply to just panel coordinators or to all panelists? Because if me and my fellow panelists finish our panel and then head to the masquerade, it would be great if we could sit together. (Our current scheduled panel time is 6 on Saturday, hence why we'd be late).

[quote=Chaobunny]
Panelists get preferred seating? I didn't know that.

Does that apply to just panel coordinators or to all panelists? Because if me and my fellow panelists finish our panel and then head to the masquerade, it would be great if we could sit together. (Our current scheduled panel time is 6 on Saturday, hence why we'd be late).[/quote]


There are rules to it, I believe, but Lou would be able to tell you more about that. I also can not guarantee you'll be able to sit together. Since you are the last ones in, you may end up separated into the various sections panelists sit in (They sit across multiple rows)

[quote=SciFiGrl47][quote=Phantom 1]Good grief, tickets for the con, tickets for raffles, tickets for the blood drive, tickets for the masquerade, tickets for the ball, you guys are handing out more tickets than the NYPD.[/quote]

On the plus side, almost all of those are voluntary! If you're not a fan of tickets, you can avoid them by not doing autographs, the masquarade, the ball, or attempting to win free stuff. :content:

[/quote]

I just thought this was very witty.

Would you still need a ticket if your already a panelist and your getting your badge marked? Also, I assume like last year, panelist can just show their marked badge to get in without waiting in line?

[quote=yunaofparadise]Would you still need a ticket if your already a panelist and your getting your badge marked? Also, I assume like last year, panelist can just show their marked badge to get in without waiting in line?[/quote]
Right, you don't need a ticket.

So are badges of panelists already marked? And we definately don't have to wait for tickets? I want to make sure this is accurate so I don't get stuck not being able to go, since I'd be more than willing to wait in line if need be.

(Sorry, this is my first year doing a panel, so I'm new at this. ^^;)

[quote=Chaobunny]So are badges of panelists already marked? And we definately don't have to wait for tickets? I want to make sure this is accurate so I don't get stuck not being able to go, since I'd be more than willing to wait in line if need be.

(Sorry, this is my first year doing a panel, so I'm new at this. ^^;)[/quote]

Lou will release more information later with check in procedures and stuff about seating, but last year badges would say "panelist" on them.

[quote=Eimi][quote=Chaobunny]So are badges of panelists already marked? And we definately don't have to wait for tickets? I want to make sure this is accurate so I don't get stuck not being able to go, since I'd be more than willing to wait in line if need be.

(Sorry, this is my first year doing a panel, so I'm new at this. ^^;)[/quote]

Lou will release more information later with check in procedures and stuff about seating, but last year badges would say "panelist" on them.[/quote]
I don't recall them saying panelist on them. Were they supposed to? Or do you mean they will this year? It's always been specific stickers that Lou or someone else put on the back of your badge for that.

[quote=BasharOfTheAges]
I don't recall them saying panelist on them. Were they supposed to? Or do you mean they will this year? It's always been specific stickers that Lou or someone else put on the back of your badge for that.[/quote]

I just went by my panelist (Yes, i do a "panel" :p) e-mail from last year

* DISCLAIMER: THIS IS LAST YEARS, THINGS MAY CHANGE* (for those who won't read the whole convo )
"All other panelists should proceed to the Customer Service booth in the
convention's registration hall upon arrival. This will allow you to
bypass the general registration lines and get your badges sooner. In
addition, your badges will be marked as "panelist" badges, which will
allow to have priority seating at the Masquerade if you so desire."

So maybe he marked them and not reg? Dun know, I don't need a seat for the masq, I'm a camera op, so I never check on that.

Badges for panelists were marked with stickers on the back of them last year by Lou and I believe they will be marked like that for this year as well.

Please note that this year, you do NOT have to come to customer service to get your badge. You can just get into the pre-reg line and get your badge at any open station.

[quote=suza]Badges for panelists were marked with stickers on the back of them last year by Lou and I believe they will be marked like that for this year as well.
[/quote]
Really? They were? O.o I totally don't remember a sticker on my badge either. Does he put them on there when we come to check in, or something?
Sorry to side-track the convo. Just curious.

O.o They should have been stickered with one of the holographic stickers on the back when you checked in for your panel. That's what we informed the panelists last year; we didn't do the stickering at registration.

I'm pretty sure that's how it had happened since there's nothing else on the badge to denote that you're a panelist otherwise.