BroadwayCon 2016 - Experience reports!- Page 10

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:01pm

gypsy - Without getting into too much detail because I don't think she'd want me sharing it all, she's completely blind in one eye. In the other, her cornea had detached and the initial surgeon messed up in reattaching it. She has had multiple surgeries on it and, with a contact, can see fairly well from it. Glasses don't work, for whatever reason - she's tried them and they seem to have no impact.  Unfortunately she can't wear the contact for more than about 10-12 hours a day without getting stabbing pains in her eye.  Most of the time she takes the contact out and, like George in Seinfeld, is a really good squinter.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:04pm

I'm curious about the quiz moderator as well. It looks like the quiz took up a large chunk of the schedule, too (8:30 - 10pm), so that person shouldn't be allowed to moderate anything else if he completely went "off book" without direction from management; it might have made sense if not enough people showed up to the event, but I rather doubt it.

 

As for the crazy VIP person storming the stage and accosting performers, was there no security? There should be very clear boundaries despite the intention of "bringing fans closer to their favorite performers." Something like that to me is grounds for downgrading their pass at minimum.

[Vectorbabe]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:11pm

gypsy101 said: I'm worried about your wife's vision! What is wrong with her eyes that glasses don't help? Astigmatism? Just curious.

Don't know about his wife, but my cataracts have gotten so bad I can't easily read text on a computer, text on television, signs on a highway, street signs in the city, and most text on product labels.

I'll be going for surgery soon. But I would have loved to know where the disabled seating in the front was since I was stuck in the back and couldn't see the stage. And the projection monitors in the back were hard to see.

This is why seniors need special accommodations.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:15pm

I was most excited about the trivia before the con. When they said what they were doing on the main stage at the time, though, we chose to skip the trivia.  I don't regret that choice, but I would love to know how it was if anyone went to it - maybe share some of the questions?

 

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:20pm

jasonf said: "I was most excited about the trivia before the con. When they said what they were doing on the main stage at the time, though, we chose to skip the trivia.  I don't regret that choice, but I would love to know how it was if anyone went to it - maybe share some of the questions?"

 

Well, if you're talking about the same event Broadwaybill3 talked about on the previous page, apparently it didn't go very well.

[ren598]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:21pm

I really enjoyed my experience at BroadwayCon this year.  I think they did a great job of coming up with alternative programming during the blizzard when a lot of the performers and speakers couldn't make it in.  Especially the blizzard party line with the likes of Audra McDonald, Patti Lupone, Betty Buckley, Darren Criss, Jeremy Jordan, and others calling in. For anyone interested, below is the link to my videos from BroadwayCon.  Be sure to check out the Hamilton and Something Rotten! Panels.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiHqD-T4otnBri9h1xqG636X0K8eFnkKd

 

[dfrillsnedit]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:25pm

I attended the con only on Saturday, as it was my birthday/big birthday present from my family. I will say, considering the weather and what I had read about Friday's issues, I thought the con went pretty great. There were a few things to mention, which I though were interesting...

- Coat Check

As to be expected with the weather, most people brought loads of coats to the con if they were coming for just the day. I, along with my mother, were among those individuals and thus felt the need to use the coat check so we didn't carrying them with us all day. In the morning, there was a HUGE line to use the service, but it went rather quickly. The issue though came later in the day, when I noticed that many people were holding their coats. What was the problem? Well it seemed the convention didn't want to pay for the extra coat room, and the first one was full after 11am. The con attempted to make it sound like this was the hotel deciding if they needed to open the other coat check or not - but it was definitely the con's decision, as one of the Hilton staff members muttered to me. Granted, my crew never had an issue with our coats not being checked, but a know many people that were told the room was full and that they should come back later. 

- Marketplace

As much as I enjoyed the Marketplace, I do think it was incredibly bad in the layout department, and if it wasn't for the snowstorm, Saturday would have been a hot mess - like DashCon levels of hot mess. First of all, never EVER should you have the autograph line go through were people are shopping. Unless you are hosting this event at the Javits were you can have the kind of space to do something like that, you otherwise should avoid it at all costs. This decision created a huge amount of confusion with people trying to figure out where to line for what, which line was for who, etc - etc. This also created a lot of unhappy faces, from what I could see, of people who were confused and frustrated with bumping into people, blocking booth space, and just annoyed with where they were standing.

I'd also like to chime in with what was said about a particular booth, one that sold Doctor Who and Harry Potter merchandise. Now, I get that the people that run this con run other conventions catering to those fandoms, but that booth (and others that were HP and other nerdom centric) seemed really silly and bizarre for a convention themed to theater. I also feel they need to get more of an indie artist crowd, such as the kind of people you find in an Artist Alley, for next year. Because though having the official booths and charities were cool, it definitely didn't offer the kind of things we were told/nor lived up to the hype of the Flea Market - which is another event associated with BCEFA. 

- Fire Codes

GOOD LORD, the amount of Fire Codes being broken at this event were of insane levels. If you don't know what I mean - at most conventions, volunteers are given strict guidelines that a certain number of people are the fire code safety limit for one room at a time. But for the majority of the panels I went to, particularly the popular Palace Theatre one, those "rules" seemed to fly out the window. Many people were seated on the floor in a way that if a fire alarm got pulled, they would easily get injured. I hope next year the volunteers/staff take that into account, just for the safety of attendees and so they don't get a lawsuit slapped on them. 

- Food

Some have mentioned this, but due to the blizzard and closure of NYC, getting food was an adventure during BroadwayCon. Me and my mom are not the pickiest of eaters, but we do get a bit hangry. The line for Herb and Kitchen seemed a bit confusing and lengthy, so we tried the Lounge restaurant - which ironically, turned out to be worse. First off, there was no one there to seat you to a table, so you basically had to fend for yourself to find a place to sit. Fortunately, me and my mom made friends with another mother/daughter tag team, and ended up sitting with them/chatting/eating. But that was the least of our problems - firstly, we ordered our meal/drinks at around 2pm. We did not receive our food until almost 4pm - with some of our food clearly coming from Herb and Kitchen, since they arrived in "To Go" boxes. Granted, we were fine with taking some time to relax between panels, but this was insane. They even sent our "complimentary nuts" without any word as to when our actual food was coming out. 

Now listen, I get that it was a Blizzard and they were doing the best they could - trust me, working on retail/food is the pits. But at the same time, I'm shocked this hotel didn't have the "bright idea" to hire extra wait staff knowing that this conference could have upwards to 10,000 attendees, which if the snow hadn't happened, could have possibly doubled. In the future, if the Hilton is the future home for BroadwayCon, this needs to be improved dramatically. Maybe get more food vendors inside? Just an idea. 

I otherwise really enjoyed the con, I hope they do more off the cuff panels like they did to cover up for all the snow cancellations. If we can get something as amazing as Rob McClure doing a one man Sweeney Todd again, I'll be pleased to the heavens.  

 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:33pm

The McClure Sweeney Todd thing was BRILLIANT. I loved the off-the-cuff stuff like that. Speaking of, Ben Cameron was a great, patient, and funny emcee in everything I saw him in.

 

I hadn't realized that issue with coat check -- ouch! I saw the "full" sign and was wondering what was up with the coat check on the other end of the room going dark and unused.

 

Herb'n Kitchen was a bit of a mess. I did try to eat at Pret when I could, but they were closed on Sunday. At least when I got there. (Dig Inn was open, luckily.)

 

I can't believe it's gotten this far and you're the first one to mention DashCon.

[Broadwaybill3]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:36pm

neonlightsxo said: "Broadwaybill, do you not know who the moderator was? Just curious who he was if he was so terrible.

 

" I wish that I could remember his name. Apparently, he does quizzes at  other Mischief Management events because when we arrived he asked the crowd if any of us had been to one of his quizzes before. None of had and I sincerely doubt any of us EVER will again. 

 

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:38pm

Ooof - glad I didn't go to the trivia then!  I would have been really pissed!

 

The Rob Mcclure Sweeeney thing was DEFINITELY a highlight.  I really enjoyed most of the performances I saw.  I wish there was more than just Krysta Rodriguez at the cabaret, but with the snow, that was understandable.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:48pm

Thank you, ren598!

 

Broadwaybill3 said: "neonlightsxo said: "Broadwaybill, do you not know who the moderator was? Just curious who he was if he was so terrible.

" I wish that I could remember his name. Apparently, he does quizzes at  other Mischief Management events because when we arrived he asked the crowd if any of us had been to one of his quizzes before. None of had and I sincerely doubt any of us EVER will again. "

 

Oh, so he wasn't a theater fan to begin with? Bad idea.

 

dfrillsnedit said: "I'm shocked this hotel didn't have the "bright idea" to hire extra wait staff knowing that this conference could have upwards to 10,000 attendees, which if the snow hadn't happened, could have possibly doubled. "

 

In Rapp's periscope just before the convention, he said something like "low thousands" maybe 3-4k. I saw a tweet from the director person mentioning 5k right before the convention start as well. Then post-convention, an article (New York Times?) said almost 6k. Only the convention planners could have known how many advance passes they sold, so they should have communicated that to the hotel. Whether this was a communication issue or last-minute attendance uptick or poor planning on the hotel's part, I guess we'll never know.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:02pm

That really sucks about the trivia.  I had even volunteered to run that myself - I'm sure I would have done a better job!  I think management was more interested in what was happening on the main stage then, though, so an email to them telling them about your experiences might not be a bad idea.

 

I really hope they fix the food situation next year.  The content of stuff was so good I didn't realize I was hungry until night most of the time, but what was available, especially on Saturday, was insanely expensive.

 

On Sunday we ordered in from Daisy May's BBQ.  It started a round of Last Five Years/Lil Abner singing, of course, but it was the first "real" food we'd had in two days.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:08pm

There was a medical issue with an attendee at a panel on Sunday (I was in the same row as him), and while I don't really want to give details to respect his privacy, the food thing probably didn't help. I wouldn't be surprised if the Herb'n Kitchen lines being long and the food itself being expensive, compounded with the lack of food outside the building during the blizzard was a contributing factor. And maybe there were other problems at other panels too, who knows. With a con like this, people aren't sleeping regularly, they're forgetting to eat (as you mentioned, jasonf), they're not drinking enough water, etc...

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:09pm

I would definitely send an email to the Con staff regarding the terrible trivia host. That's something they need to know for next year. I'm sure someone like Jen Tepper wouldn't mind doing it, either.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:10pm

I'm fairly certain that at other major conventions, minimal food might be provided at venue, but attendees are expected to fend for themselves at nearby restaurants within the vicinity. ComicCon provides a map, I believe. Or bring your own. The real exacerbating issue around BroadwayCon was the blizzard.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:12pm

That's an excellent suggestion. Peter Filichia runs trivia games in his column all the time - I would guess if asked he would be willing to do it as well. (His panel about flops was awesome, btw - though I'm saying this as a personal friend of his).

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:14pm

That was a great panel, too!

 

Is BroadwayCon going to send out a post-mortem survey? I'd love to take it. I hope they do have some kind of standardized, formalized way of asking for feedback from us.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:16pm

But shouldn't they have been prepared for bad weather and all its repercussions? It is, after all, the end of January in New York City.

[NJ_BroadwayGirl]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:24pm

neonlightsxo said: "But shouldn't they have been prepared for bad weather and all its repercussions? It is, after all, the end of January in New York City."

 

Yup. I also wondered if they had published the inclement weather policy before they had bad weather? It seemed like it wasn't published when tickets were on sale. Has anyone on this board pursued a weather-related refund?

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:25pm

LizzieCurry said: "That was a great panel, too!

Is BroadwayCon going to send out a post-mortem survey? I'd love to take it. I hope they do have some kind of standardized, formalized way of asking for feedback from us."

 

They really should, also taking into account attendees' pass levels.

 

neonlightsxo said: "But shouldn't they have been prepared for bad weather and all its repercussions? It is, after all, the end of January in New York City."

 

I believe they were to some extent since they did have an inclement weather policy and managed to adapt the programming, but the food issue is related to the hotel as well. Talk about timing, though!

 

Edit: That's a good point about WHEN the inclement weather policy was on the website. I have no idea.

Edit2: Earliest witness account I found for something on their website was January 19.

Updated On: 1/26/16 at 01:25 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 1:27pm

I seem to remember they tweeted a link to the inclement weather policy as early as either Wednesday or Thursday. I'm not sure how long it was actually up on the site, though.

[StarsToo]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 3:03pm

Like NY15272, I've attended LeakyCon for several years, which is run by the same company. Perhaps because it was the first year, and because of the large amount of press the event was getting, BwayCon was a lot more chaotic. A lot of people had never been to a con before, and didn't know what to expect or how to act.

I was only able to attend on Friday (the blizzard kept me home the rest of the weekend), but the two smaller panels that I went to were very energetic and fun. The opening ceremony was a mess. Honestly I was upset because I had a day pass, and even though the website claimed they were not sold out of day passes, they had already sold too many to fit into the main hall for the central programming. I was sent to the overflow room, where I was not able to see the performers' faces on the screen and there was no live captioning. Basically just had no idea what was going on. I'd rather them have capped the tickets off at the main hall's capacity so their attendees could actually enjoy themselves, than have them sell too many tickets in the first place.

The volunteer I spoke to about it was very nice though. She didn't have very many answers for me, but she said she'd been given false information all day and that they were just trying the best they could.

Also the entire time I was there, no one checked for my badge? Made me wonder how many random unregistered people or parents were wandering around and adding to the crowd problems.

I was happy to see that BwayCon was honoring Saturday day passes on Sunday, due to the weather. That was quick thinking on their part.

After attending VidCon last summer (and not enjoying it - large crowds, chaos), I'd say BwayCon was a little bit better. At least I was able to find a place to sit and read in between events.

[JM226]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 4:49pm

glad you all enjoyed yourself. as i said, everyone will take away something different. mine is mostly negative but i am not mad or upset about it... just annoyed. i'll probably end up giving it a second chance next year. we'll see. cheers 

[UnwoundFantasies]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 5:23pm

A few thoughts as I've read through this whole thread..

- I'm so sad to hear that the Broadway Trivia was a bust! My friends and I wanted so badly to stick around for that but with the impending blizzard we decided to leave early.. so I guess I'm glad we didn't waste our time waiting around. Did anyone go to the "Why Didn't It Run" panel? That was the one of the other things I was bummed to have missed out on..

-Disabilities- I was a volunteer during BroadwayCon and to be honest, at our orientation they basically said that if an attendee with disabilities has a request or concern to just honor them completely. If there were to be a further concern, one was supposed to grab a staff member or one of the head people running it (not sure where we would be supposed to find them) but I never had to deal with that situation.

-Organization in general- like I said I was a volunteer. My friends and I received little to no information at all about the task at hand. To be honest, the "volunteer coordinators" were way too busy focusing on a million other things that no one was around to watch us or to assign us placements. We were just as clueless as the attendees. For example, I ran one of the photobooths and was assigned to scan in tickets. Several tickets came up as void (whether they were legitimately false or just a glitch, I don't know), but I was completely by myself. So when a ticket came up as void, I had to have the attendee stand off to the side and wait (sometimes as long as 15 minutes) until someone higher up happened to pass by so they could figure out their situation, just because I couldn't leave my position. There just needed to be more communication for the volunteers and then maybe that information would've been conveyed to the participants more effectively.

- Fire Codes- that's interesting someone reported that a room was filled to the max! For the "Your Fave is Problematic" panel, the volunteers working there wouldn't allow there to be any standing room at all. They started yelling out for VIPs to come forward- after the room was 90% full. Just goes to show you the different inconsistencies between volunteers.

-I also don't know why they had about 15 volunteers scheduled at registration in the afternoon hours. We basically sat around doing nothing until 1-2 people sauntered in every 15 minutes. Easily could've been handled by just a few volunteers.

- Marketplace- I don't really know what I was expecting? It definitely wasn't like the Flea Market, with only the Playbill Booth really selling actual show merchandise. I appreciated the different vendors even though most items were too expensive for myself and the other young attendees. Not sure what the Doctor Who/HP booth was doing there... I would love to see individual shows get involved next year. I'm also not sure why they scheduled the autograph sessions and photobooths to be within the marketplace. Definitely agree with the previous poster that those activities should have been relocated.

- Content: Definitely agree that while the content they had was excellent and informative, I would love some variety for next year. One main reason that I never bought a ticket and settled to volunteer instead was that there was nothing I was really DYING to see. It was very much aimed towards the diehards for Rent, Spring Awakening, Hamilton and the like. I would've loved to see some more content on Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown or R&H shows (though the King and I panel was wonderful!). I would've also loved to see panels on shows that are not currently running/about to open, and this is coming from a young student who would've loved an opportunity to learn more about older shows.

I definitely would go next year as a volunteer because I didn't pay anything and still got to enjoy a large portion of BroadwayCon. But I definitely can understand how paying participants may feel a bit cheated, even regardless of the blizzard and its complications such as cancellations.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 5:38pm

Wow, thanks for this! Very insightful actually hearing from a volunteer.

 

I was at most of the Why Didn't It Run? panel -- was running late -- and I wish it could've gone on more. Viagas and Filichia were a joy to listen to (their interactions were funny, too). They aren't recognizable by face and people weren't there to get their autographs, which was a nice change.

 

I forget which panel I was at, but the volunteer there was speaking way too loudly and opening the door way too wide. I was sitting near the back and the noise was distracting.