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[Pete The Greek]

With the first official Canadian Joe Convention wrapped up, Joecanuck would like some feedback.  What did you guys like?  What didn't you like?  What can be improved upon? 

[pluv]

That's easy, more coverage for those of us waiting for someone to post anything about what happened.  :wink:

[night force cynic]

I can't even think of anything that could have been or needs to be improved on.  I'm serious, that was a pretty amazing Convention experience: it was really organized, all events well prepared, the surprise guest from Orbit (man, she was hot), a metric TON of door and raffle prizes (including those gift basket alternatives, genius idea), and the sales/showroom had PLENTY of room to maneuver in, NO cramped spaces of any kind anyway.  Hell yes, great time.  

ALL I can think of to even suggest for 2010 is maybe hire SID to make a Black Ice costume and parade around in in it and sign "autographs" for people and and let them get photos with the 'real' BI next year.    


Right now if I had a drink in hand, I'd make a toast to many more years of the Canandian Joe Con and its growing popularity.  

[canprime]

It was a great show.

A couple of suggestions for next year:

1) Maybe a game show/trivia contest??

2) A "rest" area with some old episodes running on a television.

3) "More Cow bell"

[pdaat]

For me personally, I'm not into to the big con sets.  It was a great set, done very well and I did pick one up.  But to be honest, I would have been happier to go home with just a Backstop.  If I were to go to the MC Con, I'd be happy to walk away with the "parachute drop" figure, not the set.  That being said, picking up just the Air Chariot would have left me feeling hollow inside.

I actually enjoy listening to Hasbro myself and seeing the product the most of all (even though I had to leave early). The boys I brought were looking forward to a wrestling tournament.  IF I were to go again (and I really am not sure that I will), it will be alone - I tried to do my part and bring younger people in to cultivate interest, but there really wasn't much else for them once their $30-40 ran out (mostly on energy drinks and Mighty Mugs).

Other than that, another highlight is to see fellow board members!  It was nice to listen and talk to Bellamo and the first trade I purchased from David Willis was a hoot.  I haven't read AWOL'd yet.  Location was great - even though this will be changing.

Paul

[xhairs]

Man i have gone 3yrs in a row now. this is the best con i have ever been to. it was great and will be back next yr. just with out any of my customs as this one the only bad part so many ppl said they would bring there work and only 4 ppl did. other then that you guy are awsome for doing this and cant wait till next yr.

thanks to the staff for the awsome work.

oh congrats  raptor on the great news man i missed hanging with you this yr.

[Madman]

Honestly no complaints. Things were as smooth as I could imagine they could be.

[martin-montreal]

It was my first con ever. So I can't compare with other con in Canada or in the US.

What I liked:

1. Information
You gave us all the information in advance (date, location, cost, payment method, etc.) so it was easy for us to organize our trip.

2. The cost
$15 to go in and $125 for the exclusives was fair. That price range is accessible.

3. Meeting people
It's always fun to put a face on a username. My English is not that strong so I didn't talk for hours with people, but it was fun meeting people and making contact in person.

4. Special guest
Mark signed my book that my girlfriend gave me few years ago.

5. Free :timbits:


Some ideas to think of:

1. Order more sun 
Driving under the rain is never fun, so next time plan in advance and order more sun and heat 

2. Identifying board member
It would be cool to quickly identify board member from the rest of the people. Something as easy as a tag name that we can stick on us.

3. More advertisement about the schedule
I originally planned to go to the Hasbro's Q&A at 1pm. Then, I thought I missed it, but we were in fact behind the schedule, so it was put later. But, because our departure time came, I finally missed it for real. It could be fun to do it earlier in the day.


General comment
It was really fun!


Great job guys!

Martin

[NeoDragonKnight]

What I liked:

-Meeting everyone, was cool meeting board members, Mike, and even our American friends that came from far.  The name escapes me right now, but one guy, came from San Diego, he is one of the top collectors apparently, cool guy, had long chats with him and his buddy as they were right behind us in line.  Also had fun chatting to my fellow Hisstankers who came from Michigan.
-the exclusive set was amazing, I cant say enough how much I love it, creative, unique, memorable, it will be very hard to top next year.  Also they way you disributed it was very good and fair, sdcc could definatly learn something from you in that department.
-Vendors were amazing, found some nice cheap figures as well as reasonablly priced stuff we cant get up here like the resolute 5 pack.
-raffles were cool
-good guests
-contests were cool, though we could use more of them!

Suggestions:
-make things a little more kid friendly or even people new to joe friendly, so even things like a small corner set up to show GI Joe classic episodes, Resolute, or other stuff would have been very good, and it gives people a nice rest stop also while waiting for the next events.  Im sure we can think of other little things to keep people busy early, particularly the 1 or 2 hours after opening, before there are some of the more fun things like the raffle, contests and presentation(s), as it was, I had walked the vendor floor and purchased my stuff in little over and hour, had some chats and then took a walk around Hamilton for an hour or 2 with my friend before coming back for the presentation and raffles and stuff which were very fun.
-beds/hamocks for those who lined up early  :wink:  j/k
-have frequent short periodic announcements with the mic of updates during the conever 20 or 30 min, for instance it will make the raffle better known, I had no clue where to get the raffle tickets and missed out .  It also helps people that come and go or are late as well as reminds other people that forgot.
-I know you'd probablly hate the suggestion, and its not a slight on Hamilton, but having the con in Toronto would probablly up the attendance and interest.

in closing:
-I will definatly come back next year I had fun even though there were a few dry spells between 10-10:30 to 12ish but all the other things more then made up for it.  Keep it up guys

[latinjoe22]

I'm a 3yr old Joe Con Attendee and I have to say the same excitement before the big day is always there and evergrowing. I will never stop looking forward to the next one and so on, not just because of the exclusives which always are Canadian on the highest symbolic level but because It just happens that most of the greatest Joe fans I know on this corner of the planet, are just at one place once year and to spend some time with them in person ans share our different ways of caring for the hobby, may it only last a few seconds in some cases, is worth gold to me.

Mike, guys, the full program you put together this year is priceless, and every small detail and effort you put into it could not pass unseen. Again, like the previous years before, I didn't get to meet absolutely everyone in person, but what's great is that the next con is still around! For the same reason, I felt a bit empty and a crum of nostalgia today beeing back in Montreal, and beeing a dealer at the Montreal Toy Con. I felt like "NO, I WISH IT THE JOE CON WOULD NEVER STOP". Showcasing the #22 set to some at the Toy Con really felt like I was communicating my pride to belong with you guys and wishing they knew how it felt too. So Congrats to the staff of the Joe Con for making this year very memorable again.

2 comments: Not enough timbits as I feared...or were they purposely hidden away from me? Still, it's a good thing there's a Tim Horton's at every 2 blocks, yay!;D & Was there enough control at the freebie table and was there enough donors this year? I didn't see more than a bin half full around 11am, this is just my impression on what I saw, nothing more. I know that I didn't bring anything this year for technical reasons but it has me wondering how many of us did the same thing as me.  Still, If a lot of people found a litte treasure in it, I'm happy for them. I know I found some interesting small parts for some customs.

Nothing more to add, this year's experience rocked all the way!

[cmderinchief]

Two days!   

No, seriously, I think the staff knows what to do to turn it up a notch every year.  You all made it a good trip for us.  Thanks!

[Scramble]

I would have been happier to go home with just a Backstop.

The boys I brought were looking forward to a wrestling tournament.  IF I were to go again (and I really am not sure that I will), it will be alone - I tried to do my part and bring younger people in to cultivate interest, but there really wasn't much else for them once their $30-40 ran out (mostly on energy drinks and Mighty Mugs).

-make things a little more kid friendly or even people new to joe friendly, so even things like a small corner set up to show GI Joe classic episodes, Resolute, or other stuff would have been very good, and it gives people a nice rest stop also while waiting for the next events.  Im sure we can think of other little things to keep people busy early, particularly the 1 or 2 hours after opening, before there are some of the more fun things like the raffle, contests and presentation(s), as it was, I had walked the vendor floor and purchased my stuff in little over and hour, had some chats and then took a walk around Hamilton for an hour or 2 with my friend before coming back for the presentation and raffles and stuff which were very fun.

We had a hard time filling the wrestling tournament last year which is why we didn?t think it would really missed this year when we saw that all the free time we had from January on would be dedicated to the con sets. Truth be told, you were the only ones to mention it. However, although not having the wrestling specifically wasn?t that bad, not having anything that appealed to the younger crowd was a problem. You might look at a toy show and think a kid would be in heaven, but how many times can a kid see something cool and hear its $50-$100 price range before they?d get frustrated by the temptation? Not to mention we as board members get to meet and talk with people we know from the boards whereas of the kids we do get, they don?t know each other at all and the age range is all over the place.

I just carpooled home with my wife and Viperlord and we spent a solid hour thinking up ideas that would appeal to a younger crowd without needing a dedicated attendee or using up too much con space or resources. When it comes down to it this is aimed at collectors, but keeping kids happy means that collectors with kids can enjoy their day more and longer.

-have frequent short periodic announcements with the mic of updates during the conever 20 or 30 min, for instance it will make the raffle better known, I had no clue where to get the raffle tickets and missed out .  It also helps people that come and go or are late as well as reminds other people that forgot.

Blame Natasha Eloi. Naturally we loved having her and Space at the con and wouldn?t trade that in for anything, but we couldn?t make announcements while they were recording and she was recording a lot (good for us!). So we had planned on making more announcements but circumstances didn?t allow a few. I do agree we could have done more to keep people updated on the timeline of events, but they?re more things that we can plan for next year rather than things we could have practically implemented on the fly.

Showcasing the #22 set to some at the Toy Con really felt like I was communicating my pride to belong with you guys and wishing they knew how it felt too. So Congrats to the staff of the Joe Con for making this year very memorable again.

We do get a lot of credit and I feel well appreciated, but nothing makes me feel better about all the work we put into the con than this kind of pride and enthusiasm for what we?ve done. Not to mention, you can?t pay for that kind of PR.