suggestions for tfcon 2017

[FEZaid]

Well believe it or not, didn't buy a whole lot, this year I went for things that had quality instead of quantity. Anyways, I got what I wanted and happy.

Ok, the bad, nothing directed at the convention it self but the hotel: if you stayed at the hotel ever in the last few TFcons, you are very familiar with the terrible elevators. I had moment were I would want to go down, the elevator would go up first for NOBODY, then go down to the lobby floor. This doesn't happen once, this happened multiple times and to everyone that used them.

My room was on the second floor, so luckily using the stairs wasn't a hassle, but those few times using the elevator were obnoxious, I believe they are getting worse.

[Fear or Courage]

The good:

-Generally, I think the con is the perfect size. Small enough to not be overwhelming, but big enough to feel significant. I’d rather they keep it this size than try to grow it.
-Those lovely bags they gave us to carry our stuff.
-The panels I went to (The Beast Wars voice actors, Flint Dille and Dan, Welker, Vangelus) were all pretty great in general, others have said plenty on that.
-Kudos to them for making the complicated task of organizing the crowds and lines for Welker’s panel so efficient.
-I love how kid-friendly the ‘con is. One dealer even had a “free for kids under 12” box.

The bad:

-I missed a lot of the script reading, because they started early, due to the auditions apparently ending really fast. They needed to either stick to the schedule and break for a bit, or use the P.A. to announce that it was starting early.
-The costume contest felt really slapdash and disorganized, with everyone filling out papers on the spot, the MC clearly making things up as he went along, and everyone going up the middle of the room instead of, like, coming through the side door. I’m not expecting Fan Expo’s Masquerade, but it could have been planned better.
-Others have said their opinions, but that one joke in the comic about female cosplayers was in bad taste, and I say that as someone that’s read previous comics. I was glad someone put them on blast for it during the Sunday panel.
-Finally, can they PLEASE come closer to the east side of the GTA one year? Durham/Scarborough/Pickering/Ajax gets no love. I’ll make the drive, but it would be nice to have something closer one year.

[Shockwave 75]

Some good points here.

The only thing I'd really suggest is to have an "autograph only" option for the major guests. As someone pointed out in another discussion, after paying for the VIP ticket, weekend admission, taxes and fees, the whole Welker experience came out to around $260.

Speaking just for myself, I can't afford that just for an autograph! And that's all I want. I don't care about fancy 8x10 pictures, "alone time" with the guest, or preferred seating for the panel. I'm sure there are many other people who feel the same way.

Also, while I love that Flint Dille wasn't charging for autographs, and I hope that we can get more guests like this in the future, there needed to be more organization at his table. I know that he was enjoying just having people crowd around his table and regaling us with hilarious tales; but the only problem with that is that you get people who don't move along. There was one woman while I was there who was literally monopolizing his table by standing right in front and leaning on it. At one point she actually laid right across it!
While I enjoyed his stories, that's what the panels are for. At one point I looked back and his line had to be at least ten people deep waiting to get his autograph. And I had been there waiting for at least 15 minutes at that point.
There was one TFCon volunteer there when I got there, but he wandered off to get autographs from Dan Gilvezan and Ian Corlette.

[Sunstar]

Tfcon was lovely. I would love for it to remain in the current area.

I would like to see some other voice actors, like TFprime actors or Michael Dobson... Susan Blu. Actually having Arcee and Arcee (prime and G1 would be lovely.)

[Iacon]

So, as I said in the dealer room thread, I was thoroughly impressed with all of the actual events of the Con this year. Just the logistics of actually booking the legendarily busy Mr. Welker is a monumental achievement for which I am eternally grateful!

Just a few minor suggestions:

The moment 15 minutes before the end of Mr. Dille's TFTM commentary was unfortunate. I'm not sure if there was a misunderstanding behind the scenes, but it seemed like Oasis was put in the no-win position of actually suggesting that Mr. Dille not be permitted to finish the commentary for the last 15 minutes of the film. We were asked if we were there for Faction Feud, but I really doubt that any of us who raised our hand were actually indicating that we wanted him to stop the movie.

Sure, it was a funny moment when Mr. Dille just continued playing the movie anyway- and he was generally really chill- so in this case, I don't think he was really bothered by it. However, a guest of a different temperament might be genuinely offended if we were to ask him to shut off the movie he wrote 'cause we wanna play a game...

To avoid potential awkwardness, seems like the standard policy should just be that events and panels involving guests should take priority over purely fan-generated activities (within reason-- having a VA panel just go for 4 hours 'cause the talent is on a roll obviously wouldn't be feasible). I mean, I know fans put a lot of work into their panels, but especially in this case- where Faction Feud was literally the last thing happening in that room and could be postponed without affecting anything else- it just kinda seems like the way to go...

Seems like the Art Contest winners announcement was rather anti-climactic. Might be worth taking some photos of the winning entries to set up a little Powerpoint that could be shown in the panel room whilst the winners are actually announced, for those of us who hadn't gotten around to checking out the art table yet, and therefore had no recognition of the titles of the pieces...

The disorganization at Mr. Dille's was a little problematic, but in a case where the guest is insisting on that type of format, it would seem a bit much for a volunteer to contradict him... I dunno, could the guest perhaps have the option of one session before for casual conversation (maybe the one on Sunday) and another session more dedicated to signing in a timely fashion (though even that still seems disrespectfully proscriptive...)?

Would it be possible to inform the artists who are attending the 'Con of the full actor/creator guest list at least a few months beforehand, een if the public announcement isn't 'til later, to give them enough lead time to come up with prints for everyone who would be signing? There were a lot of great signables options for Mr. Gilvezan, Mr. Corlett and Mr. Welker, but it seems like Mr. Byrnes got shortchanged a bit. I mean, yeah, I can appreciate that sometimes the guests' agent might not commit until late in the game, but I feel like trying to maximize the selection of available prints would go a long way towards optimizing autograph sales and making the trip as profitable as possible for the guests...

And finally... you guys know that now you gotta get Judd Nelson next year, yeh?

[TRUCKvsGUN]

Originally Posted by tusko

How about a comic book drawing panel? Teach the youngsters what media to use, how to plan and draw sequential art.

James Raiz does some instructional videos, you can see some on his youtube channel, theboxofficeartist. Maybe if one of the organizers asked him nicely, he could be convinced to participate?

[zackmak]

Originally Posted by Iacon

Seems like the Art Contest winners announcement was rather anti-climactic. Might be worth taking some photos of the winning entries to set up a little Powerpoint that could be shown in the panel room whilst the winners are actually announced, for those of us who hadn't gotten around to checking out the art table yet, and therefore had no recognition of the titles of the pieces...

100% agree that the winning items should have been photographed and used on the big white screens for the audience to see. Maybe even have the winning entries on a continuous slide during the wait time for the next panel. The winning artists should get some more exposure for their items.

The trophy give-a-ways was pretty embarrassing, though, as I think only one winner was there to accept. Maybe have those awards and the cosplay awards given out during the same panel, next year.

A couple other cons:

One other thing that could have been better is the questions that were picked for Mr. Welker. With limited questions allowed to be asked, why were 3-4 of them practically the same, only worded a bit different? The man has hundreds of voice-over credits to his name, and did a dozen transformer voices alone...yet multiple Megatron questions that ultimately lead to him answering them the same way felt stale.

The second thing is the Sunday convention. With only a handful of new vendors/tables (all in the hallway), the so called 80's convention was a bust for me. It was basically 'TFcon' again on Sunday, with the same vendors, and little product replenishing from the previous day's vending table; there was nothing exciting for me.

On the plus side, location is great, parking was free and ample (even parking on the street was free and ample), water in hallway was great idea again, lines moved quickly, the panels this year were GREAT (watched practically every one); Flint and Dan guest panels were fun and interesting (great idea on movie commentary).

Suggestion for next year panel: how to take care of your transformers (eg. storing, displaying away from light; correcting yellowing; chrome wear; fixing broken items; cleaning them; sticker residue, etc, etc.)

[Iacon]

Originally Posted by zackmak

One other thing that could have been better is the questions that were picked for Mr. Welker. With limited questions allowed to be asked, why were 3-4 of them practically the same, only worded a bit different? The man has hundreds of voice-over credits to his name, and did a dozen transformer voices alone...yet multiple Megatron questions that ultimately lead to him answering them the same way felt stale.

Yeah, I was surprised that one of my Galvatron questions was selected, as it *was* very similar to Meesum's. For what it's worth, I did ask an abbreviated version to try to get to my second question faster, but perhaps I should have just skipped it...

That said, I stand by my second question-- that Barry White/Cave of Wonders performance was mind-blowing!

Do the organizers actually get to choose the questions? I was under the impression that the guest's agent did that...

[DuG]

Another suggestion that I thought of while at the con and just remembered is possibly providing a blank space on the lanyards for people to write their names on so other board members and attendees can say hi. Personally I remember faces better than I do names so sorry if I forgot anyone's this past weekend.

[Ninjatron]

Originally Posted by Iacon

Do the organizers actually get to choose the questions? I was under the impression that the guest's agent did that...

You are right. The organizers do not choose the questions. Anything that happens in regards to what questions are being asked is ultimately not up to them.

I thought Frank's panel went very well. It still felt natural and relaxed for such a big event with all the planing and logistics that had to go into it. Plus, it was still full of surprises. At least... I was certainly surprised!

Sayonara.