anime con room parties of the past

[davemerrill]

FINALLY a new Let's Anime dives into the anime convention party scene of years past! Knock three times and tell them Dave sent you.

https://letsanime.blogspot.com/2023/08/ ... rules.html

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[Captain_EO]

This was a particularly fun article! Despite being to many cons over the years, I've always checked out when it comes to the parties. The photos and scans here really add a lot of context for what they were like.

[davemerrill]

I always like to poke my head into room parties if they're open to anyone. Back in the day when conventions were two or three thousand attendees, max, you could almost guarantee you'd know someone in the room. And if you didn't, you could make new friends pretty easily!

[Drew_Sutton]

Great article and really captures an aspect of the fandom that, I feel, is seldom discussed. It is probably because as you noted, it was something lifted from some of the old sci-fi con days and at least in my experience isn't something that translates well without someone physically doing all the work themselves. I miss room parties, in at least, as much as I miss being able to socialize at conventions like I used to. I've got some fond memories of some of the room parties I had at AWA, especially the college years, but I really miss some of the last few AWA parties I was able to make it to where we could chat for a bit, Dave.

There was a convention in Nashville that was run by a lot of the MTAC staff that had room parties as a feature - had a contest for best room party and all. A couple friends and I had the perfect idea for a room party and always put it off until "next year" until the next year never came. It's now too far gone, I am sure that show isn't coming back now that we're all quite a few years older.

[davemerrill]

here in 2023, it feels like the, I don't know what to call it, the corporatization or the conglomeration or the monetization or the whatever of the fan conventions, the crowds and the money came in and the ability to throw a room party went out.

First off. It's physically difficult to physically get your physical self's ass to the convention center. Parking is a nightmare and once you're parked you don't want to move your car again.

Secondly, these things are in big convention centers that are, again, physically distant from the liquor stores, the grocery stores, the Wal-Marts and Targets and Party Cities necessary for room parties.

Thirdly, conventions are full of events from the crack of dawn until the wee hours. The convention has to maximize every minute spent in that expensive convention center so they are going to fill every space and every time with all the events. Your party guests are missing out on events that theoretically they paid for.

Fourthly conventions are full of people. Just jam packed. Friends and strangers and parents and little kids and confused tourists and aggressive YouTuber video creators and who knows what. If you make your party public they all might come and just wreck the joint.

Fifth, convention hotels are done with our nonsense, they're tired of cleaning up after us. I mean, that's pretty simple. Business-people conventions, they will drink in the bar like grownups, they might get a poker game or something happening in a suite, they might knock back a few beers or some single malt, but they don't cause the mess anime nerds cause.

Sixth, anime is big business, and the big businesses have come in and they are hosting their own hospitality suites for industry and guests. They're sponsoring promotional parties for their releases and their stars and their products, and I for one feel downright silly sitting around a six pack, a bag of chips and two bottles of mid-list spirits on a table in a hotel suite when on the ground floor there's a DJ, two cash bars, three booths handing out energy drinks, and 200 people milling around dancing, talking, vibing. Now THAT's a party.

The anime room party of 1998 was just that -it was for 1998, it was for a convention that was doing maybe 2000 attendees that all kind of knew each other, that was used to fansubbing its own shows, copying its own tapes, translating its favorite manga, and making its own fun in a space that was uncrowded and connected enough that a flyer on a bulletin board saying "party room 1009" would in fact be seen as the invitation it is. I don't want to say those days are gone, but they're gone from the 25,000 attendee conventions.

[davemerrill]

I do think that the anime fan scene is big enough in Atlanta and in Toronto and whereever that we could have smaller more relaxed anime conventions that would be more about friends getting together and socializing, rather than the big spectacles the big shows are. However, all the hotels and convention centers are pricing everything as if every convention is a corporate giant. So find a cheap venue and I'll give you the relaxnimecon.

[Drew_Sutton]

All really good points, especially how room party culture really doesn't scale up as conventions scale up.

The anime room party of 1998 was just that -it was for 1998, it was for a convention that was doing maybe 2000 attendees that all kind of knew each other, that was used to fansubbing its own shows, copying its own tapes, translating its favorite manga, and making its own fun in a space that was uncrowded and connected enough that a flyer on a bulletin board saying "party room 1009" would in fact be seen as the invitation it is. I don't want to say those days are gone, but they're gone from the 25,000 attendee conventions.

As a counter point, when SeishunCon was in its early days up through the 1200 badges realm, there were near zero room parties. The closest thing to it was that staff usually would have some 'social time' Saturday night as long as everything was going ok or us exhausted directors grabbing a night cap at 4 AM. All of the rank-and-file attendees were enjoying their time at the show but they weren't necessarily handing out flyers when and where to show up for a DIY cocktail. It is probably just as much a testament to what you highlighted in your article that attendees on average may be drinking less than their predecessors as it is to there not being the same culture of room parties with people who started attending conventions in the 2010s versus the 1980s or 1990s.

Fifth, convention hotels are done with our nonsense, they're tired of cleaning up after us. I mean, that's pretty simple. Business-people conventions, they will drink in the bar like grownups, they might get a poker game or something happening in a suite, they might knock back a few beers or some single malt, but they don't cause the mess anime nerds cause.

This is very true. The industry (pay my mortgage industry, not anime industry) conferences I've been to, after 4 PM it's getting peers to meet for a coffee or cocktail to hash out a business idea or issue or haranguing a vendor for a steak and a couple of old fashioned's. Even one conference I attend, the conference sponsors an event w/ open bar for vendors to hawk their wares and network with their customers. But none of these events have created a mess at all like I've seen at anime cons.

I do think that the anime fan scene is big enough in Atlanta and in Toronto and whereever that we could have smaller more relaxed anime conventions that would be more about friends getting together and socializing, rather than the big spectacles the big shows are. However, all the hotels and convention centers are pricing everything as if every convention is a corporate giant. So find a cheap venue and I'll give you the relaxnimecon.

I feel like this is the point where some advice about running an anime convention comes full circle - if you can host a large barbecue/cook out or other type of party, you're not that far away from hosting an anime convention. If I were to imagine the last few AWA parties of yours I'd attended, those are really well suited to a cook-out except that it's much harder to convince a bunch of people to travel non-trivial distances.

I think you're right though - find a venue with the right size, right scope AND get the right people there and you can have that relaxing 1998 room party again for sure.