FanFest 2023 - waste of money

[Lieri]

The security and most of the staffs are probably outsourced or provided by the venue who dont even know what is Final Funtastic anime. Its always like that when it comes into events unless if the organizer manage everything.

[Renalt]

The security and most of the staffs are probably outsourced or provided by the venue who dont even know what is Final Funtastic anime. Its always like that when it comes into events unless if the organizer manage everything.

Oh yeah...Final Fantasy did have an anime at one time...

[Sotaris]

Oh yeah...Final Fantasy did have an anime at one time...

We had multiple. FF5, FF7 and FF15

[PintyMcEars]

We had multiple. FF5, FF7 and FF15

And FF unlimited. Best not to think about that one...

[Sotaris]

And FF unlimited. Best not to think about that one...

That one completely is wiped from my memory lol. But I recognise it when seeing the cover art.

[Bassets]

As someone who spent a couple of decades working on and managing very large conventions, this is not typical of large conventions. It appears that the company did not really know what they were getting into with a convention this large. Hopefully they will look into hiring a convention logistics coordinator or better yet, outsource it to one of many companies that do this sort of thing. Had they worked with an event coordinating company, many of the issues would have been minimized, if not eliminated.

If funds are the issue, perhaps create a vendor area and rent out booth space to vendors. This not only helps fund events like this, but give the participants more things to do while at the event (spreads the people out more). Of course this will not matter if the event doesn't have enough seating to fit everyone attending. Because people had to save their seats, most just stayed put vs trying to enjoy the activities SE had put together.

Note to the FFXIV team (if anyone reads this). People spent a lot of money to attend this event, most had to travel from long distances, rent hotel rooms, and many wasted their money on the stupid monorail passes. They then spent 13+ hours standing around, sitting on concrete floors, and waiting in countless lines only to be disappointed.

In the very least, you should hold another NA online merch sale. So many people who were excited to get merch to commemorate their trip to fanfest and left so disappointed. While this would not wholly make up for the negative parts of the experience, it would be a kind gesture that demonstrates you understand their disappointment.

[Brightamethyst]

As someone who spent a couple of decades working on and managing very large conventions, this is not typical of large conventions. It appears that the company did not really know what they were getting into with a convention this large.

That's my take on it too. They were clearly unprepared for the sheer number of people. The thought process was probably something like "we had 8k attendees last time and 15k this time so we just need a venue twice the size", without also taking into account everything else that goes along with it. Seating, food, number of easily reachable bathrooms, staff working the merch and redemption booths, etc.

To their credit though they did learn and try to fix what they could on the fly (indoor entrance line on Saturday, etc) and I imagine they'll probably be much more prepared for the next one.