Anime Oasis: How to Make a Good Con Better

The last few weeks have been bloody exhausting. Con prep, work events, CON ITSELF, life shenanigans, deadlines, and new roommates moving in--whew! That's a lot to handle all at once. So while I allow my body to recover a bit more, I figured I'd share my thoughts (and a few photos) of Anime Oasis!

Ah, Anime Oasis: Each year this con grows a bit bigger, downtown gets a lot cooler, and con goers always seem so happy to be there! Changes to AO's layout really helped with the flow of traffic through Dealer's and Artist Alley, though some of the other special rooms in the Boise Center were sadly overlooked.

Other areas that felt overlooked: content variety, Monday's scheduling, and security.

AO has always been a comic-con style experience. The convention's content is driven by the guests and attendees desire to see them. Every few years a new type of experience is added--such as the tea rooms, formal, and manga library--but the most common complaint I hear from attendees, is that there is nothing exciting or new to really look forward to.

Which makes a lot of sense. When the majority of content is build around guests, and an attendee isn't interested in those guests, they're out of luck for that year.

That's kind of been my experience the past few years. Being in Artist Alley the majority of the time means I don't leave the table unless I need food, caffeine, or something REALLY cool is going on. Nothing sounded cool enough to prompt me to leave the table. I wandered into the Manga Library a couple times--something I was supremely looking forward to--but found it to be slapdash and all together a bit disappointing. The only other event I attended, the IA concert, suffered from AO's famous technical issues and the concert turned out to be little more than a YouTube video. Disappointing, but huge props to the attendees and IA's team for still making that experience fun in the end.

My personal opinion, is that there aren't enough guests, panels, or events geared at older attendees. Aside from a hentai night here and there, there isn't much to get older fans excited (pun not intended). Older fans want to see content based off the shows they loved years ago, something to get them excited about new shows, or content that will help them get their children into anime. Currently, I see a schedule that's built around Young Adult interests and newer anime fans. This isn't a bad thing, but bored adults tend to quickly become drunk adults. And drunk adults definitely can cause issues.

Security and Monday's scheduling has always been, and possibly always will be, issues. There is never enough security for a convention with over 3k attendees. This year I was happy to see security more invested in checking for badges than their phones, but side entrances were all left unguarded. The lack of security translated into one of the artists having a staggering amount of merch stolen from their table.

Monday's schedule has always been a bit of a bad hand for the vendors. With reduced hours, attendees are left with only 4 hours to make purchases. And at least 3 of those 4 hours is taken up by Battle Cosplay. Attendees have to choose between watching one of the largest events at the convention, or having time to get that final item they need. This is bad for both attendees and vendors alike--attendees are frustrated that they can't do both, and vendors are left sitting in mostly empty rooms for 4 hours. Some dealers decide to pack up early, because there isn't enough traffic to justify the cost of staying open. Each year, I get flooded with sad faces and sadder messages from attendees who wanted to visit one final time, but never got the opportunity to due to the main events schedule.

All in all, the last few years of Anime Oasis have been great events-- the move into the Boise Center has been a huge quality of life improvement. I was happy to see a packed Artist Alley with new artists and all the amazing joy they create and bring! No convention is without its issues, and I only voice my concerns because I would like to see this event continually improve. Anime Oasis is the convention where I first vendored and caught the Artist Alley bug after all. Really, I owe it (and the attendees) so damn much.

So to anyone who stopped by the booth, stayed for a chat, or maybe even took a piece of art home with them: Thank you all so much for your continued support! I was horribly worried that this year would be my last. With the name change and move away from clay art, the fear that my table would flop was palpable. Yet, I was proven quite wrong, and I am so relieved. I feel as if I'm finally growing and making steps in the right direction.

Next up is Wizard World Comic Con in July! It'll be my first time trying to fill TWO WHOLE TABLES with goodies. Wish me luck!