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The attendance cap last year was 22k. This year, you've upped it to 25, along with procuring the First Mariner Arena. Do you think the con will sell out again? Will it ever outgrow Baltimore? Is it true that almost all of the hotels are sold out?
Yes, I think we'll sell out again. The current total may look low, but this time last year we
had just opened up pre-reg. Once we kick out some more guest announcements, we'll see things
pick up.
The 1st Mariner Arena gives our biggest event room to breath, allows us to satisfy the need
for more rooms that hold about a thousand people, and buys us back our 35mm room (which had
been used for simulcast of the Masquerade) for its primary purpose of showing films.
But we're also going to be using another surprise venue this year -- you'll hear more about
that soon.
Will we outgrow Baltimore? In some ways we already have, but there just aren't very many
options available to us that would actually work. Philly's set up all wrong for us. Half our
staff wouldn't make the trek to Pittsburgh. That leaves us with DC -- an option that's still
on the table. However there are a lot of challenges with DC, the most critical of which is
cost. Baltimore at this point is motivated to keep us, and they're putting their money where
their mouth is, so to speak. This year we've seen a noted increase in city support for the
event. And frankly, we know pretty much exactly how to use Baltimore's space, and we know
all the local players, from hotels to venues to vendors.
What of the coming expansions to the hotel and convention space in Baltimore?
They look very promising. Basically they're adding another ballroom's worth of space, which
would be a huge help to us. And 600 more hotel rooms, plus parking spaces? That's a big
plus. Unfortunately they're not slated to be done until 2008. With luck, they'll be ready
for us.
Regarding the First Mariner Arena and the cosplay being held there: are you excited about that? Can you give us any insight into the circumstances that led to this decision?
Mostly it was math. The masquerade is consistently our best attended event, drawing a full
ballroom (over 4,000 people) and overflow room (about 2,400 people) during our peak hours on
Saturday night. Because of the overflow, we lose 35mm during that time -- which is a real
shame because it's one of the things that Otakon does that sets us apart. So as we discussed
options, we thought about other venues we could tap -- we have more programming content than
we have space to put it!-- and at some meeting someone suggested putting main events there.
Right now, the only thing confirmed for the Arena is the Masquerade, though it's possible
that we may have other stuff there as well.
Masquerade isn't just the main time, it's the rehearsals as well. Which means that we don't
lose our biggest space for just the four hours of the show, but *also* for the rehearsal
time. Moving masquerade reclaimed the ballroom space for other stuff on saturday, AND gave
us back 35mm for 35mm stuff.
Also, moving 6000+ people out of the BCC on Saturday night does a lot to reduce the clogged
aisles during our busiest time, which is why we were able to up the cap.
A comic book shop has Gundam/IGPX Model Kits? I thought Bandai stopped selling them except at Cons (where they're just imports)?
