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wombat_sochoTo be honest, I didn't see all that much of Katsucon. I stayed out of artists' alley and the dealers' room (didn't want to spend money) only sat in on one panel, and mostly sat in one of the main corridors watching the crowd go by as Mr. B talked to various of his friends among the staff and membership. Still, having shooped a few whoops run/staffed a few conventions in my time, I did notice a few things that made me think about coming back next year.
Attendance for Katsucon was ~7000 this year; they've been growing at about 10% these last few years, and fill the Omni Shoreham without packing it like we do with 3000 at the Thunderbird. Registration was smooth - cash and credit/debit cards only, which removes the problem of bounced checks. I didn't spend a lot of time SMOFing with the staff, but they had separate spaces for what appeared to be sizable medical, security, and ops contingents, and a quality internal radio net. Fewer, but larger video rooms, one of which was showing chop socky and other Asian films; same is true of the programming, which included three "live" tracks in addition to a workshop track and a ginormous ballroom space dedicated to console gaming.
I suspect a lot of the younger fans used the Metro to get to Katsucon; there's a stop one block from the hotel. Rooms at the Omni were $99/night, IIRC, which is damned cheap for the DC area, but then the Shoreham is pretty old (built in 1929, finished in 1930) and isn't nearly as spacious as the newer - and more expensive - hotels such as the Marriott Wardman Park (was the Sheraton Park) across the street.
It was a pretty good time; got to talk briefly to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bam2 who was very surprised to see me there.
Attendance for Katsucon was ~7000 this year; they've been growing at about 10% these last few years, and fill the Omni Shoreham without packing it like we do with 3000 at the Thunderbird. Registration was smooth - cash and credit/debit cards only, which removes the problem of bounced checks. I didn't spend a lot of time SMOFing with the staff, but they had separate spaces for what appeared to be sizable medical, security, and ops contingents, and a quality internal radio net. Fewer, but larger video rooms, one of which was showing chop socky and other Asian films; same is true of the programming, which included three "live" tracks in addition to a workshop track and a ginormous ballroom space dedicated to console gaming.
I suspect a lot of the younger fans used the Metro to get to Katsucon; there's a stop one block from the hotel. Rooms at the Omni were $99/night, IIRC, which is damned cheap for the DC area, but then the Shoreham is pretty old (built in 1929, finished in 1930) and isn't nearly as spacious as the newer - and more expensive - hotels such as the Marriott Wardman Park (was the Sheraton Park) across the street.
It was a pretty good time; got to talk briefly to
bam2 who was very surprised to see me there.
