managers, and fired many people for absolutely no reason, just to show she had the authority to do so. just ask the programming operations department that no longer exists because of her. she has recently hired her ex-boyfriend ian tingen, a person who has no experience staffing, into a paid position. like perez in the past, she has no business etiquette, and does not mind taking advantage of her position to give paid postions to people with no experience. she has micromanaged to the point to where staff is almost forced to quit to keep their sanity and integrity. the language she uses on her facebook is even foul when it's directed towards the staff and attendees. now, there are a few people in upper management that actually care, like ray chang. the spja board of directors need to take action. they need to listen to their managers and staff. they need to do this for the attendees, before they experience another sub par convention, before it implodes. the staff deserve better. the attendees deserve better. there will be more to come. thank you for hearing us.

>>6939511 (OP)
>>6939521
So you're saying Chase Wang was any better? Sounds like all the AX heads are incompetent people.

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My question is where this all started to go wrong? The GoH diaster that was AX 2007? The decision to move to the LACC? The trio of Perez, Wang, and Latazino?
>ftw AX was once considered the pinacle of anime conventions and now is a corrupt steaming pile of shit

>>6939531
I like how Chase Wang's shitty con wound up folding and running off with the registration money. The fucker didn't even issue a statement, which is funny because he used to spam my inbox daily.

I've known about the Marc Perez and Ann Marie Cano affair since 2011. Their body language said it all.

From what I've been hearing, he's still trying to get into women's pants. But he was gonna pay his mistress $45K? Tsk tsk tsk.

>>6939551
They didn't run off with the money at least though. My friend was registered for their artist alley and she got a check in the mail for her registration + table fees.

>>6939568
There's still complaints about refunds on their Facebook, though.

>>6939543
AX has always been corrupt. Mike Tatsugawa was kicked out for embezzling. 2007 the general staff threatened to strike because they didn't like how the board at that point was dealing with things (not just the GoH stuff) and Chase seized power. AX has always been the CEO/Con Chair's personal party instead of any kind of actual buisness. I swear to god that selling out to some company that wants to run it for profit would actually be a good move for the con in that it would end the power grabs and create better accountability amongst the paid staff.

>>6939619
You know what's not ugly? Power. Money. Alcohol has nothing on those two.

i heard someone from anime conji had 5000$ in game gear stolen spja won't pay

>>6939613
So who do you think is competent enough to run AX? Who can fix it? Any suggestions?

If there's going to be a change in leadership, it should be someone that everyone agrees is best for the position.

OPERATION: SAVE ANIME EXPO

If people weren't eager to attend cons just for the fun of attending cons, it would be nothing short of amazing that these sort of things ever got off the ground, let alone established themselves and got bigger every year.

The tedious, obnoxious high school drama never ends. If anything, these sort of people only get worse and worse the longer they keep at it, and certain faggots start to feel like they are more important or powerful or knowledgeable about running a convention then they actually are.

Not to trivialize how hard it is to run a con, but some aspects of it will really run themselves. Security volunteers know to keep attendees from destroying property or doing something dumb like sitting down in the middle of a huge walkway. Vendors know not to take up more space than they've purchased or interfere with the business of other vendors. Panel runners do the best with what they are given and only a few of them will be problematic in any meaningful way. This isn't because running the con is easy, but because many of the people attending and participating have been to many other conventions and have done all this before.

If everything goes well, the con chair may mistakenly believe that their decision making and management skills have somehow made things more successful or that the execution of the convention was drastically hinging on their ability to be in charge... Which is retarded.

>>6939624
if anything the hotel should be paying it because it was their fuckup that left the doors unlocked when they weren't supposed to be

interesting thread. Care to tell me about the structure of this convention? What qualifies people to be paid? 45k sounds quite alot for convention work to me

>>6939631
Especially true if you're coming in as chair for an already-established con, with all the necessary systems in place.
It would take more effort to fuck things up, than it would to keep things running as they were.

>>6939647
$45k to fuck the CEO

$85k as AX CEO

>>6939675
how many visitors does AX have over how many days? How much do the tickets cost per person on average?

>>6939684
according to official releases they have a 49,000 unique and let's say it's $50 each on average (could be more, could be less). Sounds like a lot of money but then they have to pay all the businesses and convention center. It's better to look at their declared profit/losses on their tax forms to see how they're doing. As a nonprofit they don't have to run a profit every year but it helps if they do. I think they're still suffering the effects of working back the debt from 2010. It would help if employees took $1 salaries but that's obviously not feasible to live off of. Since I'm not an insider I don't know just how much time each person puts into their positions.

>>6939576
If you read the comments on the Facebook people are slowly getting their refunds in the mail. I guess it's taking longer to get to some people because of how USPS is.

>>6939695
I just reread my post and somewhere out there is an English teacher who now wants to kill me

>>6939702
Thank you very much for the numbers! It's quite interesting to see how big conventions in the US got. Here in europe, Japan Expo is as big as it gets. And it's the only convention with similar big numbers at all. (but it's combined with a comic convention, too)

Still, the gap between volunteers and paid staff feels kinda icky.

>>6939715
the biggest one out here in San Diego Comic Con. They are currently running 130k attendees total. I'll assume generously that 20k are free somehow (industry, comps, or something like that). I'll further assume that half of those are buying four day badges at $150 (8.25mil) each and the other half are buying maybe two days at $75 each (4.125mil) for a total of 12.375 mil. Used to be you could get a four day badge for $50 when I started going. Once they continuously sold out they got rid of all discounts which they should because otherwise you're just throwing money away.

>>6939715
Here is the size of Anime Expo compared to other NA cons.

http://animecons.com/articles/article.shtml/1464/Ten_Largest_North_American_Anime_Conventions_of_2012

>>6939697
>still no statement on the site
>not everyone has recieved refunds
>someone on the forums said they were ignored for months
>actually using "check's in the mail lol" as an excuse for this shit

No wonder AM2 crashed and burned.

It's interesting to note, that the conventions in the us seem to be more "commercial" than here in europe. Here many conventions are solely volunteer's work. Also, commercial aspects seem to be more accepted in the US.

Quite interesting

>>6939695
if you follow marc perez brother on foursquare you'll see he goes to japan a lot

who pays for that? spja

>>6939747
Most staff in the US work for free as well. Only a few jobs in comparison to total staff are paid. Commercial aspects (I'm assuming you mean industry sponsorships/booths?) just help with funds and help bring more guests so in my opinion it's win-win for everyone.

>>6939754
I don't complain about it as I think it's work after all and it should be paid. But where I come from another way of thinking is more common... everything should be cheap and free and of course(!) everyone should work for free, too.
I wonder for how long this will go well...I've already heard about staffers with responsibility to become sick from the double stress of working full time + sacrificing almost all of their free time for conventions. Might be fun at first, but after 6-8 years? I wonder...

>>6939772

No. He flies business class. Always.

>>6939767
Yeah, the ones working that much should be the ones getting paid. They basically are making it their job and if anything would be the ones earning their paychecks.

>>6939787
That answer killed my fat joke completely. I'm kind of sad now.

>>6939790

but marc perez is not worth his salary. the anime and game industry hate him because he's an incompetent fat fanboy whos unprofessional

>>6939816
As an non-insider I can't say for sure how much work Perez is doing, how effective he is at it, how many hours he puts in. For the European tangent we're going on, people who are putting in the time should be compensated somehow.

>>6939790
I hope you guys remember how much work for no pay most staffers get next time you complain that emails/submissions/whatever for your next con aren't going up fast enough.

>>6939628

I'll do it. Personally I won't be qualified right now though, but in 5 years I will be and I've made that clear to other folks. Anime Expo will be fixed.

why does spja pay people at all? are they the only con that does this?

As a insider we have heard he makes around 100k a year.

>>6939949
some nonprofits organizations do pay people for their time and effort. Whether or not said person is worth the pay is another thing

We can also confirm that tho the rooming is free, we are given 40 bucks for food for the days we staff will be there. Not per day for the whole con.

Also. Could some one with influence spread this to cosplay.com we are try to get stuff like this noticed with out being removed from positions. Thank you.

SPJA 2013 CANCER

MARC PEREZ
HANK WONG
CECILIA AMO
ALLISON MCKNIGHT
TAYLOR LOCKE

>>6939969

Sorry, I'm playing the Game of Thrones myself. Can't do it

>>6940060
You forgot the worst of the bunch: LORRAINE NIBUT

>>6939949
>why does spja pay people at all? are they the only con that does this?

are you being serious?

>>6939634
The hotel won't pay for it. The contract apparently said that Conji/SPJA was responsible for the security of the doors.

>>6940060
can we add Kim Young as well? she's the head of programming that included 2 MLP panels and 3 Cosplay is not Consent-ish panel.s

>>6940060

Add Greg Hignight in there too

>>6940302
I disagree greg hignight is a good person. sure he can be cocky and anyoing at times. but he dose not hold anyone back and he activtly helps others for the good of the con.

Conji was such a mess. There was no signage for the exhibit hall, and artists that participated in artist alley either barely made even or lost profit. Unfortunate especially for those who traveled out of town/state/country for this.

Is anyone going to do anything about this? I'm almost out of the navy and i hope my next AX experiance wount be a total 9-11 ordeal

>>6940257
Who is Lorraine and why is she the "worst of the bunch?"

>>6940306
I think it's a little too late for that. A complete change is going to be needed.

>>6940308
she is head of HR. her and mcknight have some kind of agreement to work together for there common goal. She also has power of the finances in spja. these powers where given to her by marc. these powers and friendship had been used to destroy parts of conji for 2013. Meterial that was ordered were denied ( commen requests were for stuff like binders. and paper and pens.)

(AX isn't the only side of things having problems. Ever since they took over Anime Conji, all kinds of problems popped up too. The game room was robbed on Friday night/Saturday morning. I talked with the guy running the room after everything happened. He's been running the room since the first year. The police showed up and so did the managers above him, Nathan & Greg. From what I overheard, SPJA was going to reimburse him for the theft. But now, they're changing their tune trying to say they're not responsible so they're trying to back out of it. The hotel even said that security of the room was the convention's responsibility. He's been sending emails but they're just ignoring them. That's not professional at all. What's worse is that they already agreed to cover the equipment in case anything happened before the con started. They even tried to not pay him the full cost of the van rental after they said they would in the beginning. They've got a real bad history of saying one thing to get what they want, then trying to switch their words around.)

why the fuck would anyone sleep with Marc Perez? He's a huge slimey fat fuck. do women seriously no standards that they'd let his tiny mexican dick and 400 lbs of fat pork them?

What's funny is that all of this behind the scenes drama rarely affects the actual con experience for congoers at AX.

>>6940361
Yes.

>>6940367
>what is $1.2 million dollars in debt
>what is subpar anime convention when they're compeiting with Otakon and the other top-tier conventions

>>6940361
it's okay
they don't feel it at all
hotdog down a hallway, right?
plus he pays them so free money whoo whoo

>>6940387
I threw up in my mouth a little...

>>6940367
tell that to every other con getting better guest and better line-up of events.

>>6940387
How does them not feeling it make it any better?

>>6940405
they can do something like browse the internet on their phone while they wait for him to finish. or play candy crush saga. or something.

>>6939634
The doors auto locked at night. So someone got in or someone with a key let someone they weren't supposed to in.

>>6940422
from what I heard right after Conji the security guys unlocked the doors when they weren't supposed to and of course no one was watching because it wasn't supposed to be open in the first place

Hank Wong. That loser chink needs to go. He doesn't get enough money munching on Cecilia Amo's snatch it looks like.

>>6940421
Again, how does that make it any better? They're letting a fat disgusting subhuman penetrate their womanhood only because he might be some kind of pseudo-steppingstone in their pseudo-careers. This kind of behavior is neither new, nor very shocking, but it's comments like that that allow it to happen in the first place. "Oh just sleep with him a few times and you'll be set. What's the big deal? You won't even feel it lol".

How is this not on cosplay.com?

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Running a con at any time that isn't the month leading up to, during, and after the con itself barely qualifies as part time work. There may be some meetings and little shit in between, but the amount of hard, dedicated, I can't do anything else all week because at least 10 hours per day are going into this job, real, motherfucking *WORK* that actually has to happen is sporadic and light.

As someone else in this thread pointed out, there's large elements of con-going that run themselves. Worried about secure a panel program? Attendees are going to take care of 90% of that themselves, and the other 10% are guest panels, which will already run themselves, and big events like the masquerade which can't be controlled in any meaningful way unless it's the weekend of the con.

What about all the vendors who want to set up shops? You section off some space, based on what you can afford to rent out, and let people pay you to get that space. Then they show up, build their own stands, sell their own goods, and pack up and leave, on their own.

I'm oversimplifying, but what it amounts to is even something as big as AX doesn't call for an 85k salary. Especially not when you're apparently taking multiple expensive, lengthy vacations.

Not saying the guy deserves no compensation for his work, or that chairing a con is a cakewalk, but coordinating a single event once a year is not a full-time, professional career. Especially not when you aren't part of some larger organization or business and you are doing this as a 'non-profit' set up.

>>6940481
What allows it to happen in the first place are people who are willing to let others use them so that they can in turn use that person. That's it. Plain and simple. There's nothing "good" about it except for the fact that it advances someone's career. If that's what they're willing to do, so be it. If someone else isn't willing to, so be it. There are people who will use money, power, information, their own body, whatever little bit of advantage they can get to succeed.

Obviously it's disgusting to you. That's fine. It's also not as disgusting to the girl to the point of letting Perez pork her after she judged the costs and benefits.

>>6940376
I've been to both AX and Otakon for the last few years and I've noticed no real quality difference between the two. AX even has some of the best guests it's had in a while this year.
Yeah who cares that AX is in debt. My point was that congoers don't notice it.

>>6940568
So I guess we're all in agreement that the woman Marc Perez was having an affair with was in fact simply using him? If so, then I applaud her. If she actually fell for him, then I feel sorry for her and her incredibly low standards. 45k is a pretty shitty salary for someone living in California. She could have tried seducing at a better company.

>>6940568
Not even trying to be rude, but I don't understand what your point is. I was just commenting on >>6940387 and how they implied that because they "don't feel it", that somehow justifies what they're doing. As if that's the only thing that someone should consider when deciding whether or not they should whore out their body.

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>>6939620

>Wealth, Fame, and Power
>AX Confirmed for One Piece

>>6940579
You must be from /b/...

>>6940853
Could do a lot worse

>>6939907
save this thread, and in 5 years come back.

As an ex-staffer, I recently found out that lies have been spreading around AX about how some of us left the con. A lot of them are lies, and many of us left because of Allison McKnight.

Has anyone looked at her linkden? Hardly qualifies for the position she has at AX and SPJA.

Even the profile itself is unprofessional. Why would you even want to hire someone like that.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/allison-mcknight/53/61b/2ba

>>6940938

While I'm under the radar from upper management for the time being, I can't stay quiet for long with so many unprofessional mistakes on other parts of staff that look bad on me, the other staff that care, and the work we put into this con. It's hard to take pride in your work when your co-workers and bosses keep fucking things up, and then I have to make excuses and apologize for their behalf. I'd like to not to have to make excuses to people I know in press and industry because 'so-and-so from this department took a month to respond to an e-mail.' All I can say is that it's been my goal from the start to run things from the very beginning, and I refuse to take no for an answer.

>>6941149
looks like we have the next Mike Tatsugawa/Chase Wang/Marc Perez on our hands here

>>6941173

I have no interest in embezzling funds, frivolous lawsuits or easy lays. I really just want the bragging rights of being the best convention. That means creating value for attendees by listening to both the attendees and staff. If attendees didn't feel they got their money's worth, I'd gladly give the position to someone who can.

Someone should post this up on AX's Facebook. That'd be real funny.

>>6941149
So the King has several pretenders vying for the throne. Interesting....

Marc Perez's contract ends in October. It'll get renewed because the board sucks his little Mexican dick.

>>6941317
how do they choose it anyway? what kindo f company structure is it?

>>6941364
the kind where they hold onto power by consolidating it together and giving each other mutual handjobs

>>6940596
Girlfran, it was a rude joke about the size of his willy. It wasn't meant seriously or literally.

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>business opportunity
>in California
>especially southern California
>not expecting anyone that manages to get into power to fuck up everything for their own personal gain and entertainment, regardless of what it does to the company or anyone else involved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctfvo1QwIgQ

>>6941446
No excuses, no forgiveness.

>>6941545
It's not an excuse - that's just how Cali is. It's a dump full of self-absorbed, self-serving, self-worshiping assholes. They all think short-term, too.

>>6941618
This. Fuck California All of it.

>>6941618
Bitter?

>>6941697
It truly is worst state. NorCal is only slightly less shitty.

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>>6941697
Nope.

>>6941697
Probably, yes. I have a list of non /cgl/ and non-thread related reasons that there's no point in discussing here, but yes, California and I have not gotten along.

I feel wonderful knowing that I'll be moving out of Cali soon, though.

>>6941700
>>6941817

Put the exaggeration away and spend time in Missouri or Michigan for a few days. There are far worse states.

>>6941843
I lived in Michigan before moving to California. This was a terrible choice.

>>6941846

Michigan?? No offense but you have no leg to stand on. I think California would be better off.

>>6941872
>anally aggravated Califag detected

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>>6941872
>I hate california.
>try living in michigan!
>I lived in michigan.
>well you're wrong because I say so!

Opinions errywur, then. I lived in several parts of Michigan, and I would rather live there than any of the parts of California that I've been in. Michigan may not be first place in the US, but it's still better than Cali. The people are nicer to the degree that 90% of them aren't assholes, the weather is nicer (inb4 shitting bricks about this, I happen to like seasons), driving is a BREEZE in comparison, everything is cheaper, etc etc etc. The housing market is still in buyer's favor, so I'll be taking advantage of that instead of living in an apartment, cramped near a bunch of people I don't like and having to depend on the property owners to take care of anything that goes wrong instead of just doing it myself.

I like space, I like changing weather, I like being able to drive somewhere without having to dodge idiots, and I'll like being able to afford a place that will grant me room for all my projects.

If that makes me a terrible person with an invalid opinion because I've experienced Michigan and Cali and I favor Michigan, then so be it. I don't really need you to sign any forms for life to go on.

>>6941896

Except I didn't just spend a paragraph spilling out the contents of my entitlement, I just disagreed. Different strokes for different folks, but don't be upset that the state benefits from you leaving.

And the buyer's market is still in a buyer's favor for another year, you just don't have the income to make it here plain and simple. You leaving reduces the population density in the most populous state, even if it's a microscopic dent. It's one less person living in California and complaining about it. You have no idea how annoying you people sound.

>>6941896
So your poor, uneducated, and an idiot? You know you can buy a pretty big house here in california for pretty cheap? I bought mine for 199,000. Was built in 2006, 5 rooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 story, big garage, and 3,600 sqft. You can get a decent condo for about 50k too. Of course it will be about an hour away from downtown LA but if you drive its no problem. Just because your a fucking idiot that doesn't know where to look or have bad experiences doesn't make California bad. Since your such an idiot i will give you some advice. Go to texas instead. Your opinions are not fact.

Not the person your responding too btw.

>>6941896
I live in Michigan and I think it's an all right state. It's kinda hard to be gay in some parts, but other than that it's okay.

>>6941923
It's lovely how hostile you are - you're giving a very good example of the kind of person that I will enjoy moving away from. Also, nowhere in my post do I say that my words are facts. I even use the word opinion twice. I'm sure I'm still an uneducated idiot, though. That's fine.

>>6941920
Entitlement to what? To liking something? To having an opinion? I'm not really even sure what you're getting at there, but okay.

And you're right, I was scrapped for money for the longest time because I lost jobs due to the companies that I worked for making bad decisions and folding or outsourcing. That goes back to my original post here >>6941446.

I have money now because I've been living as cheaply as I can so I can get out and get a place as soon as I move. I could get a house here if I wanted to, but why would I? I can get one just as nice for much cheaper elsewhere.

I'll be doing you a favor, to boot. And you thought people from Michigan were terrible.

>>6941896
YMMV. California is a big enough state that you can still find areas that are in buyer's favor, cheap, and not with a lot of traffic ... and have seasons. Pretty interesting really.

Wait, wasn't this thread about AX?

>>6941960

It was till someone shat in it.

>>6941947
>I could get a house here if I wanted to

No you couldn't. No amount of "living cheaply" would be enough for a down payment. You wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage, bills, and taxes even if you did. It would all catch up to you even if you did buy a shitty run down home. Maybe if you lived in Las Vegas where the houses go for 20k-50k. I can see now that you thinking you know it all was clearly the downfall of your stay in California. Like i said you are poor, uneducated, and an idiot. Move back in with your parents and start saving money if you actually want to buy a house. Or you can choose to keep renting and keep trowing away money like the uneducated fuck you are.

>>6941960
Still is last time I checked. Any new stuff coming yet?

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>>6942056
Hahaha, okay, guy.
>condemn someone for stating opinions as facts
>fabricate an entire history about someone else and state it as truth.

Can you do more? I'm curious how your fanfic about me will end.

>>6941923
199k is not cheap, idiot.

i have a feeling marc perez, his mistress, and his cronies are paranoid now

>>6942425
Nah, they don't read 4chan. They only check out cosplay.com

>>6942425
I don't know why they'd be paranoid. They have their power block setup so it's hard to dislodge them.