Convention: EXP Con 2010

Well, EXP Con has come and gone, and the Addicts had an awesome time.

EXP Con is now in its third year.  For one weekend they take up the convention area space in the Renaissance World Golf Village.  Golf and anime may not seem like the best fit (and judging by some of the other patron’s faces at the hotel they may agree) but the locale provided a beautiful setting for the con.

There were many places for cosplay photo shoots from lakes, pools, hallways, beautiful fountains, gardens and more that were fully taken advantage of by many con goers (including ourselves).  The convention center was small but very nice.  The size created a sense of intimacy among con goers.

The three panel rooms were organized to a T, which for a convention is no small feat.  There have been far too many conventions where despite our best efforts getting AV equipment to the room (on time) seemed to be too much to ask.  Each room was also a generous size which, again compared to other conventions, gave everyone in attendance a seat.

The kind people at the con set us up with a great table right in front of the registration area.  Our table “neighbors” were 91.8 “The Fan.”  A radio station with all-live DJs playing anime music all the time.  The kind people at the fan were great people to sit next to and their music created an appropriate soundtrack for the con.  You may want to check them out in the future, as the addicts may be taking over a podcast slot on Sundays on their station.  To all the listeners who stopped by our table it was great to meet you. And to all prospective new listeners who we may have met it was great to meet you as well.

Main events at the con included (but of course not limited to) Miki’s singing competition, the AMV contest, masquerade ball, rave, autograph signing, and more.  Each competition had a good show of entrants and the addicts made their contribution to the signing competition.  (YouTube videos sure to follow)

EXP Con was definitely not the largest con which we have attended, however it had a surprising amount of charm to it.  For anyone on the northern east coast of Florida who is an anime fan I’d highly recommend attending at least for the day.

Thanks again to the EXP Con organizers for setting up the A.A.A. Podcast with a table and tickets and treating us so well.  We look forward to next year!

Pannels: The Hosts hosted three Pannels and the media from each can be found below.

Traveling to Japan – Hosted by Chiaki – Chiaki covered things you need to know, or at least a condensed list, before heading to Japan. You can download the powerpoint but the majority of the information was covered through Chiaki’s narriation, so if you have questions please e-mail Chiaki though the Contact form found under Contact.

The PowerPoint of the Pannel: travelingtoJapan.ppt

Animes you’ve never seen (or heard of!) – Hosted by Mitsugi – A showing of animes that you’ve never seen, or heard of but that are some of the best out there. Due to the nature of this file being exceptionally large as a video file the animes shown were: Comedy, My Neighbors the Yamadas, On Your Mark, Future Boy Conan, and Le Maison en Petits Cubes.

The Girl’s Guide to Con-Going – Hosted by the Ladies of the A.A.A. – The ladies covered things girls need to know before going to a con, like what to pack, metting new people, dating and more. We recorded the pannel which can be found by clicking the following link, or right clicking and “save as” the file.

The MP3 of the Pannel: GirlsGuideRecording.mp3

YouTube Videos: Kimiko’s Song (starts at: 0:00), Chiaki’s Song (starts at: 3:50)

Pictures:

The A.A.A. Confessional: At the booth people could confess their anime sins and join the anime addict community. Among the many confessions were, and I… “I still love pokemon”, “I want InuYasha”, “Write fanfiction”, “Spent all my money on anime”, and “I get bad grades the week after a con and I’m watching all my anime.”

Scenes from the con: Even though there was a lot of time doing “work” at the convention between the booth and panels we still got around a bit.

The A.A.A. Hosts Cosplay: After a number of photoshoots and randomness the hosts fully documented their cosplay.