Anime Matsuri 2015

I am giving this review as a Artist Exhibitor. Because of that, I will not be review events of the show but how the show met expectations for us to be successful.
First off, let me state we did not do this show to make money. Any monies made is appreciated but our main purpose is to get a better understanding of the show to how we may put that to our advantage. And, what the Hawaii Convention Center allows and operates.
Because I’ve done many shows in the past 2 decades, from Chicago to the West Coast, I believe I can write this review to shed some light.
Parking is quite different. Rather than having the exhibitor unload at the ground floor, docking bay, we are directed to the upper floor parking forcing payment of the parking fee. Other conventions allow unloading at the docking bay, no fees, and it’s up to you if you want to park in their lot. If you do, you can pay a flat fee for the number of days of the show allowing in and out priviledges. HCC does not allow that. Nor do they allow unloading in the front of the Center itself either. The one good point is that it is $ 10 which beats other Convention Centers around the country charging $ 20 to $ 25.
The use of pallets and pallet jacks does not seem readily available if needed. I brought my own but if I needed one that may be a problem. With this show, there was limited power available. which proved to be adequate for most exhibitors. Most of the time you can get it at an exorbitant fee. A big plus for this show.
Adequate time was available to setup on the same day of the show before the official start time. I do prefer setting up the day before. When you are using heavy display equipment this is most helpful. It allows you to do the finishing touches to your setup and not have the pressure of setting up your displays with less than an hour to the doors opening. Show time!
This is AM first show in Hawaii and hope they can thrive and continue to have a presence here. The turn out, I believe, 3500 sold tickets, is a very good start compared to the more experienced shows here getting 7000 tickets. Although that number is not high enough for us as an exhibitor it is enough to show support and merit to the organizers. Owner Deneice Leigh was the only one of the 3 shows we did this year that went around introducing herself finding out what we were about and how she could help. She had her volunteer staff check with us almost every 2 hours if we needed anything. That is unprecedented in my decades of show appearances. Maybe we should do their Houston show?
We were directed to check in first before going to the table. Table assignments with the floor plan were emailed to us so we may best prepare. Having us register is a good security measure. We were given 2 badges to go along with our full table purchase. Wish my name was on mine, minus point for that. That gives more security instead of handing the badge for anyone to use.
Our name was on the front of the table. Glad that was provided because that allowed our repeat customers, from other shows, to find us. Also, more than adequate space behind the table. So glad for that. That has been a problem with many other shows as they try to squeeze the total number tables higher. Big plus for us giving enough room to setup our big display.
Securing the room was not close to what I am use to. An announcement is made the show is closing, then another when it is officially closed. Staffers are trying to get people out but it is chaotic in the attempt. Hopefully, they’ll come up with a better way to secure the room, like they do at bigger shows, that will alleviate some of the stress exhibitors have doing the show.
There were a handful of top notch cosplayers brought in from around the world. Their events, cosplay contest, tea party, special showings, Street Fighter show down with a pro, other games, etc. did well to bring the fans out over the Black Friday weekend. However, the timing wasn’t the best but I can understand the difficulty in booking.
This was Deneice’s first show here as it was our first to do her show. Definitely needs to be tweaked but there is good potential here well worth our support. Yes, you can expect us as an exhibitor again next year.