Anime Expo 2011 Meet-Up Plans

Now that Anime Expo has finally put out daily schedules, we can finally do some meet-up planning! I’ve already got something going on the ol’ SCCSAV site, but hopefully this will get the ball rolling even more.

This year I’ll actually be staying at a hotel and going all four days of the convention for the first time, so I’ll have a lot of free time on my hands (when I’m not doing press-related stuff for The Nihon Review, anyway). And with that extra free time, I’ve decided it would be a good idea to try and organize multiple meet-ups. The big problem with scheduling one meet-up is that because everyone has different interests and wants to do different things at different times during the convention, it’s basically impossible to come up with a time that will suit everyone. Poor omo missed out on the meet-up I threw together last year, for instance, because it was at the same time as the Trigun flick.

So, why not try to circumvent the problem by having more than one get together? Hopefully everyone interested will be able to make at least one — and I encourage people to organize their own, if they wish! I’m just tossing ideas into the wind here.

Anyway, I have three initial meet-ups planned: One on Day 0, one on Day 2 and one on Day 3. Since Day 0 is mostly for press folks and those who are traveling in and want to get to their hotels early, and there’s really nothing to do that day aside from registration and the press junket, it seems like a no-brainer to have some sort of meet-up that day. Omo suggested an evening time for a meet-up that day; the second press junket ends at 5:30 p.m., I believe, so that works out just fine. We can probably find somewhere decent to go afterward.

The proposal for Day 2 is the time block between the Kalafina and Mikunopolis concerts from around 6:30 p.m. (depending on when the former concert actually ends, of course) and 8:30 p.m. (give or take some time for people interested in attending the latter concert to hightail it to the Nokia Theatre). Again, we can find somewhere to go when we’re all together, or just hang around and shoot the shit. Personally, I’m not really interested in the Miku concert, so if anyone wants to keep hanging out when that’s going on, I’d be down for that.

On Day 3, we have our friend zzeroparticle running a panel on Yuki Kajiura at 10:30 a.m., and I thought it would be fun if a bunch of us attended. Have to shore up that audience, right? Seriously, though, I’m sure it will be a very interesting panel, and it would be good to show support for a guy who definitely knows his shit. (For those who cannot attend Anime Expo, we’re planning to record the panel, and I assume zzeroparticle will put it on YouTube at some later date.)

So those are the initial thoughts on times and dates. Feel free to peruse the schedules and offer up suggestions on whatever your heart desires. And, of course, there’s one more thing — meet-up spots. For those who attended last year’s meet-up, was the meet-up spot easy to find? Or was it too out of the way? (The meet-up spot was near the empty Starbucks in the West Hall of the convention — not the Starbucks that was actually open and busy!) The biggest problem with finding a good meet-up spot, I’ve found, is that Anime Expo is so enormous and crowded that it’s difficult to find a place where people can immediately find each other. I’m always open to suggestions from fellow con veterans on alternatives, however.

Blah, blah, blah. Whatever the case, we’ll all find each other and have a good ol’ time, I’m sure.

EDIT: By the way, I’m staying at the Westin Bonaventure, where late night karaoke will be held, so if anyone wants to do that at any point during the convention, I’ll be there!