BroadwayCon 2016 - Experience reports!- Page 9

[pf0723]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 8:46pm

ChildofEarth said: ARE YOU SERIOUS?

 

Absolutely. You don't have the right to take seats other people have

paid for. It's that simple.  

 

"

 

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 8:48pm

pf0723 - what would be your way of dealing with the disabled at the conference?

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 8:49pm

If they did have a policy for handicapped seating, which you say they did, I don't see what else they could do.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 8:51pm

I actually saw first hand that a volunteer moved a lady in a wheelchair to the front of the main stage area so she could see better. She was sitting behind me in the area right behind the front section. Or is that okay because she wasn't going to take a chair? 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 8:53pm

pf0723 said: "ChildofEarth said: ARE YOU SERIOUS?

 

 

 

Absolutely. You don't have the right to take seats other people have

 

paid for. It's that simple.  

 

 

 

"

 

 

 

"

Except they were designated as BOTH VIP seats and disabled seats.  And evem if they weren't,  a STAFF MEMBER put them there.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 9:07pm

Being completely honest - before I met my wife, I might have agreed about the disabled seating being unfair. Until you've lived with it, you don't know. My wife is pretty capable for what she has to deal with, but her hips and her vision are real disabilities. She is prepared to pull out a doctor's note claiming as such at any given time. 

 

Does it mean we ask for special seating at shows? Hell no. But we try to get tickets to accomodate her whenever we can.

 

I remember we went to a concert once that claimed to have disability seating. Literally the seats were a set aside section at the back of the forum in a box - my wife couldn't see a damn thing. What's the point of that.  I COMMEND Broadwaycon for the way they handled the disabilities (and they were very careful about who  they allowed into those seats). 

 

Until you have to deal with it or see it first hand, it's best to keep your mind open and just be glad you don't have those problems yourself.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 9:11pm

The way that Bwaycon dealt with all of the accommodations should be commended. They had closed captioning, they had live translators, they had in-ear devices, they had elevators to stage events, they had seating built in, they had private rooms for people who needed to take insulin shots and didn't want to do so in restrooms and probably a ton of other things that I didn't recognize.

Should those people have to pay more than they could afford so they can have a good time? No.

Should those people have to skip the event because they know they couldn't see or enjoy because $600 was too much? Absolutely not.

[KCW]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 9:14pm

Could someone please talk a bit about the marketplace? How many vendors? Photos??? Stuff like that, if you are willing. Thx.

[pf0723]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 9:46pm

At most conventions I've been to, they put handicapped signs on two aisle seats

every couple of rows. I certainly believe there should be seating for disabled people.

As I stated, my problem is with taking seats other people paid for. I was in the room from 3:30

when it opened until after the Jukebox and they repeatedly stated the first 5 rows were VIP.

They never said disabled seating as well. If that was the policy then VIP's should have been

told. they obviously weren't which doesn't give you the right to make them feel guilty for

wanting what they were promised.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 9:52pm

pf0723 said: "At most conventions I've been to, they put handicapped signs on two aisle seats every couple of rows. I certainly believe there should be seating for disabled people. As I stated, my problem is with taking seats other people paid for. I was in the room from 3:30 when it opened until after the Jukebox and they repeatedly stated the first 5 rows were VIP. They never said disabled seating as well. If that was the policy then VIP's should have been told. they obviously weren't which doesn't give you the right to make them feel guilty for wanting what they were promised. "

 

So their not-knowing gives them the right to be rude?

 

 

About the marketplace, I haven't seen many reports here. I suspect the marketplace was more interesting to tourists who can't go to the flea market. Someone said it seemed geared towards young performers, but that's hard for me to visualize.

 

 

 

Updated On: 1/25/16 at 09:52 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 10:04pm

Whoa whoa whoa. Make them feel guilty?  Holy crap - where the hell did you get that from???

The couple of seats on the aisles isn't a terrible idea, but that wasn't what this convention did.  On the same note, what do you do with those who have vision or hearing impairments who need the front (or close to the front) seats? So then wheelchair access gets rear seats?  

I agree they could have told VIP that disability seats were where they are also, but it was very clear the volunteers knew where those seats were. Doesn't mean the VIP people had to be nasty about it (most, btw, were fine about it - it was a handful of people who were nasty). We CERTAINLY never did anything to make anyone feel guilty about anything.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 10:05pm

"It's the first year. Did anyone care about ComicCon the first year? Prob not."

 

ComicCon's first year had an attendance of 145. How times have changed...

[LaciePi]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 10:37pm

I felt the marketplace was small (compared to Comic Con's), and the products weren't very interesting.  I bought a "Hamilton" t-shirt for my friend from The Colorful Geek and the new "Allegiance" cast recording from Broadway Records.   It's too bad I missed Analeigh Ashford signing her CD.  I think the teens were into Squigs' Broadway trading cards.   Playbill had a big Playbill cover backdrop that people got a kick from having their pictures taken posing with funny hats & signs. 

 

I'll just copy the exhibitors listed in the BroadwayCon app:  Audience Rewards, Broadway Dance Center, Broadway Glue, Broadway Green Alliance, Broadway Records, BroadwayCares, Camp Broadway, The Colorful Geek, Custom Broadway, Drama Book Shop, Dramatists Play Service Inc, Dream Theatre Productions, Eve Believes, Hello Dooley Productions, Jane Elissa Atelier, New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Playbill, Rediscover Handbags, Sony Music Masterworks, Squigs, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Tandy Leather, Theatre Development Fund, This Star Won't Go Out, and Young Actors' Theatre Camp. 

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 10:40pm

The marketplace was a lot of stands for charitable organizations, the drama bookstore, audience rewards, broadwaycon, and then had some t-shirt companies like Ann Arbor Tees (who had really punny shirts) and then crafty people who sold vinyl transfers, iron on patches, purses, canvasses, shoes, and other arty things.

not as big as I was hoping, but it was nice.

[_IrisTInkerbell]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 10:55pm

I actually didn't have a terrible experience with food on Saturday. Following advice here after Friday I made sure I packed lots of snacks, so I didn't need to buy breakfast or lunch. I had originally planned to leave the hotel for dinner, which obviously didn't happen with the blizzard. But people here had said that the Herb Kitchen was running out of food around 7pm, so I made sure I took my dinner break a bit earlier. I went down there are 5:30-ish. The confusing thing was the 2 lines, one was admittedly really long, and one was short, so I just got into the short one. Turned out the long was for salads & sandwiches, the short one was for the hot food (and dessert & coffee). I just got the cheapest on the menu, hot dog with fries for $7, and only waited for around 10 minutes overall.

Maybe the lines got worse later?

As for space at the Hilton, they didn't actually use all the rooms I think, so there is probably ways to expand. Although I don't know which rooms they might have blocked for the backstage areas.

On a completely different note, did anybody get the wifi to work? I was too lazy to go to the registration and ask, they would have probably helped me figure it out. But I'm now curious if we would have been able to use the hotel wifi, because it seemed to require a password, and if so, why didn't they put it in the playbill or separately in the registration bag.

[rwlevin]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 11:15pm

The internet password was easy to guess (it was hilton). I randomly typed it in and got access and gave the password to anyone who asked.

For the marketplace being geared towards kids-there were two booths for theatre camps and several for acting/dancing/singing classes. Also, I had never even heard of those cards before but kids were obsessed with them and were trading with each other in the marketplace so much that several of the volunteers had to ask them to move and one vendor was selling merchandise that had nothing to do with theatre (Harry Potter and Doctor Who) And mind you, I love Harry Potter and Doctor Who, but not when it's taking space away from theatre.

I agree about wanting more stuff about plays. I understand that musicals are the big money makers on Broadway but as a playwright who doesn't plan on writing a musical or adapting a movie into a musical (although I did love that panel), I kind of wanted to hear about the ins and outs of getting a play on Broadway.

Now to wade into disability argument, and being the daughter of a person with multiple disabilities believe I'm qualified to talk-I saw several people who couldn't get around well being moved to areas where they could move well. Yes it sucks to see somebody get what one would consider preferential treatment that as far as you're concerned they didn't pay for but it is very annoying and disconcerting when you just can't get around like you want. My dad can barely go upstairs and if he falls down, it takes about 3 people to get him back up. He can never get cheap seats to concerts or shows because he can't get into the seats. A few years ago, I offered to get him TDF tickets for American Idiot but because I had no idea where the seats were going to be, he regrettably declined. Let disabled people sit in the front-it's easier for them to see, nobody has to maneuver around them, they don't have to constantly get up and and sit down so people can pass and they can leave more easily.

[mariel9]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 11:18pm

People are unbelievable asses about providing reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. I used to staff the section for people with disabilities at the big Central Park concerts, which was right next to the VIP section. People would be enraged that someone who hadn't paid for the privilege got a great spot in the front just because they couldn't walk or couldn't see or were 98 years old. Don't you know only the rich or famous should be that close to the stage? It's was infuriating to deal with such selfish people. I remember one jackass yelling at me about how he could get such good seats and I told him that if he got hit by a truck and paralyzed he could join us and did he think that would be a fair trade?

I'm glad jasonf and his wife got such good accommodations. I remember seeing people with canes in the long lines and being really appalled at the lack of accessibility.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 11:34pm

The password was Hilton?! Dammit! I'm usually better than that! I asked three volunteers and none knew. One said "the wifi's not through us." Well, no, but I am at an event and this said event wifi. No one at Broadway Con ever replied when I tweeted asking what the wifi password was, either. (Not that I expected them to actually reply, but maybe say "we can't tell you here, but we can in person."

 

Also chiming in that BroadwayCon did a great job with accessibility. I don't have a problem with strobes myself, but they even made a pre-show announcement before the finale that there would be strobing lights.

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/25/16 at 11:38pm

I've seen bootlegs of performances for sale at various comic/entertainment conventions (I saw several pepole buy a "Wicked" DVD which I think was a tour stop taped in Atlanta). I'm wondering if any exhibitor had the gall to try and display for sale such material. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 12:27am

jasonf said: "The seats in the front were for VIP and disabled guests. Technically, she has problems with her hip but she also has a pretty severe vision problem also. Glasses don't work for her (she can't drive because of it) so sitting in the front (or at least close enough) is really the only way she can see. The hip problem caused her to not be able to wait in the line, the vision problem made her need to sit in the front. Had we been guaranteed seats in the sixth row, we would have been fine with that."

 

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

[KCW]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 7:05am

Tanka for the marketplace reports. Wish we had webcomics people for Broadway or something like that, it would make the marketplace much cooker.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 7:56am

As another take on people being asses: when I let disabled people into the house early, there is always an uproar from the others waiting.  And these are peeps with OBVIOUS issues.....a walker, having an oxygen tank, a blind parent. 

 

I hate people.  

[Broadwaybill3]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 11:43am

I was a VIP and had no issue with the very few seats being utilized by the people with disabilities who needed them. There were some VIPs who were COMPLETE asses — like the very, very tall young lady who got called upon once in the VIP Meet & Greet (which to be more accurate was not a meet and greet at all but rather a Q&A) and then kept shouting out during the rest of the session. This same girl burst on stage (costume-less) during the Cosplay fashion show and also accosted each performer as s/he tried to leave the stage. She actually ran through the curtain after Krysta Rodriguez's set was over and likely scared the poor woman half to death. That's just rude. She seemed very articulate but lacked any sense of appropriate boundaries. 

As far as PROGRAMMING went, I was impressed by all of it EXCEPT the Quiz. For some reason the moderator "because of the snow" decided that rather than ask questions in a organized fashion, he would force us to endure Mamma Mia while he and his buddies made fun of it. The crowd turned on him after we had been there for 30 minutes with only 3 questions asked by then. He couldn't have cared less. Even though this was not what the description of the game was in any of the published literature and the fact that pretty much ANYONE could come up with an hour's worth of Broadway trivia on the spot, he insisted that we would listen to him drone on about the movie and just how clever he thought that he was. That was the ONLY time I felt that my ticket money had been wasted.  We paid for this buddy! If you want to hang with your friends and make fun of a movie do it on your time. But since that's not what we signed up for, ASK THE DAMN QUESTIONS!! When MANY people complained he just said that if we didn't want to do it his way that we were free to leave. Wow. What a self-absorbed piece of crap this guy was. 

Loved all of the other programming and I do believe that they made a concentrated effort to work the kinks out by Saturday. Volunteers and organizers worked their butts off. Shout out to VIP Liason, Jessi who was jut wonderful! 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 11:55am

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

[LaciePi]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 11:59am

Broadwaybill3 said:  Shout out to VIP Liason, Jessi who was jut wonderful! 

How did you get a VIP Liaison?  Other VIPers said there was nobody for them.