FACTS 2009 - MAJOR NEWS> GO EXPO !!!!

[grim]

how come that facts is 17 and 18 October? i thought it was always the second weekend of October?

[boomvavavoom]

schedule of Expo did not permit that

[Mr. Facts]

Thanks Rogue.
I'll try to answer you as completely as possible. I will not do it everytime as it's pretty time consuming.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

May I make a point here please?

Yes, of course. Everyone can make his point here. And the good thing about this forum is that we organizers are reading your opinions in order to continously improve FACTS.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

It's good to me for this reasons;
MORE space. Being able to walk around without bumping into people and having to walk around while constantly mumbling "sorry-'xcuse me-pardon-didn't see you-was that your leg? sorry-I didn't just step on your toes did I? "
Means also more space for dealers, for the foodstands, fanclubs, photostands, gamerooms, stage for cosplayers and space for the audience...
I guess this will relieve some of the stress. Also, Expo is very easy to reach. I mean, highway, follow the "expo" boards? Easy peasy.

Okay, I think everyone will agree that ICC was getting to small for the still growing F.A.C.T.S. happening. As much as we loved to stay, the ICC wasn't an option anymore due to the limited place. The only room was the projection room but was to costly to rent with the regards of the actual input.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

Okay, it's to see how much of the space in the expo will be used, and what will be where, but I hope this really will be an improvement.

That will indeed be a challenge for the whole FACTS-team.
Normally 2 side halls will be rented. The main hall could be for the foreseeable future but not this year. I hope to pinpoint the location of those 2 halls on the location map.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

Also, for taking pictures and filming, the light is great in that building because of the huge-ass windows there.
No need for flashes! JAY! (I hate the pictures taken of cosplayers with flash.. Gives them ugly skin and the such)

Yes at last, we won't have those darn problems anymore of the lights going out suddenly.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

I have my doubts though. The entrace fee for starting with. I was HUGELY dissapointed this year because of the huge entrace fee. Okay, what is "huge"? I remember some time back, the entrace fee was 5€, even FREE if you came in costume since that meant you were there to entertain the people.

Well in 2003, the free entrance for costumed visitors was only for a dozen people and was well before the cosplayrush of the last years. Letting 600 people in for free is just not possible.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

The number of visitors has improved, and with that the price of the tickets. The price has almost doubled.
That's not very logical, is it? More people mean more money EVEN if you don't change the entrace fee.
This years location is one of the biggest places there is to rent in Belgium, but what will the outcome of the prices be? Rising those prices because you know people want to get in anyway.. I'm sorry, I'm not a fan of this way of acting.

To be honest I'm not a fan either of this way of acting.
5 euro was back in 1993 and the convention in 2003 cannot be compared to the one in 2009.
The price of the income of last year's 9 Euro (which was also the income price of 2007) is well justified and spent. Since 2003, total space has doubled (the place where the bar was + the complete first floor), the amount of dealers have been doubled, the toilet service has become free for everyone, more space for fanclubs, a dressing room (no more undressing in the cold in the glass front room, remember), a huge room for cosplay, DDR, more actors (do you know another con where action star Jean-Claude van Damme has been present?), more artists, more props such as the Emperor's throne and the Stargate, ...
So for less than the double the price, there is certainly more than double fun. And this has become mainly possible thanks to the many extra visitors who generated more income.
You also seem to forget that each year, everthing we rent gets indexed as well, ICC, tables, pannels,... and yes every extra space had to be paid for.

Compared to other conventions, FACTS remains cheap for a convention which expands to several domains.
Entrance to a conventions aimed at one particular of our domains is generally a little bit less than ours but are not always bigger than FACTS. And this thinking is certainly not true for conventions where actors attend as these have high income entrances (2,3,4 or more times than our ticket) which led to the almost total extinction of such cons in the Netherlands (which is real sad for the autograph fans).

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

Further. the new location is bigger, will there be enough staff people and such to keep an eye on the security? Will there be caretakers? Last year someone I knew hurt her feet and there wasn't any first aid people around (luckiliy there were people with band-aids and such, but it wasn't on the organisators' end to come with help) , though their services tend to be free of charge...

Our first-aid guy cancelled his presence. But it's surely an item to work on.
Flanders Expo is also good news for people in wheelchairs because it's flat. No more worrying about elevators and the ramp.
And yes, all our visitors do this free of charge and are waiting eagerly for the first Flanders Expo edition.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

There are more things, but I'm awaiting the reaction on these points at first.

More things? You're kidding.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

Some more suggestions; Facts is about Fantasy, Anime, Comics, Toys and Space.
EVERy year there are actors from sf-movies, there have NEVER been guests (if I missed this and there were, please correct me) concerning anime. Why? I agree that SF in general has a big fanbase and has been popular over the years more than anime probably is, but if Anime is one of the things Facts stand for, you should represent it in more facets then only dealers, don't you think so?

We do. Last year a special photoshoot was made available on sunday for all the cosplayers (mostly anime cosplayers). A special Bleach cosplay contest was organised, remember? The Mangafique artists have also been present for the second year in a row. We're also doing our best to have a real manga artist on the FACTS 2009 edition.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

I've been to a very small convention, there was almost nothing to do, but they managed to get the producer of Wolf's Rain to that; she was a judge for the cosplay contest, there was a Q&A with her and she gave autographs for free...

You're correct no Anime guests have been present at FACTS (only some Japanse artists in the past).
Japanese guests such as producers, voice actors, artists are way more expensive to get here than american actors and artists but with the recent success for the manga's in dutch this could be made possible through sponsors.
Anime viewings at FACTS haven't been that succesfull either in recent years. New releases have never been possible due the extra cost it brings so it had to be done with selected anime new on DVD titles.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

I'm sorry but there's more you can do regarding ALL the fans of Facts, not only the SF-fanbase.

We had the impression that we were focussing enough on all the fans. The comic fans were the ones who complained the most in recent years but now they're quite happy with the comic guest line up of the last years (a big thanks goes here to Boomvavaboom).
The cosplay contest itself has also improved a lot. Last year, the room was big, more light, no games room next to it and I have witnessed a part of the show and everyone was sitting on the floor enjoying the show. Let's hope this year the technical problems will be solved. A subscription online is already possible since 2 years and let's hope the people taking care of the contest will see its advantages to run the contest more smoothly.
We certainly will do our best they do.

Feb 8, 2009 12:51:25 GMT 1 Rogue said:

I've really enjoyed Facts untill past year, and I hope you will at least take a look at those suggestions.

I just did and I hope you'll be satisfied by the result.

[grievous444]

Suggestion: Make cartoonjessie head organizer for the cosplay contest.
It would be easier if some cosplayers that have participated to a previous cosplay contest could be a good value to the cosplay organisation.

[Siwan]

Feb 9, 2009 18:32:26 GMT 1 grievous444 said:

Suggestion: Make cartoonjessie head organizer for the cosplay contest.
It would be easier if some cosplayers that have participated to a previous cosplay contest could be a good value to the cosplay organisation.

All in favor *Raises hand*

[cartoonjessie]

Haha, and cancel all the hard preparations for this year's cosplay contest? ;-) No thanks! I'd be upsetting too many peops.

Maybe I'll organise a cosplay competition in an upcoming event in my town (which is not due for another 2 years) - but that's a different thing - it's my home town, for one, it's a revival of something I've witnessed every year between the ages of 3 to 15 and it's in a place where I know people and know how to mobilise people that can help me out with the technical aspects of cosplaying as well.

I'd say: get people from Ghent to organise it. Get some guest judges. INTRODUCE the judges so that everybody knows what they're worth and WHAT they will be looking at, don't just drop three strangers on a stage. I - personally - doubt they understood English or Dutch last year. Maybe they did, but it didn't show. Maybe they spoke Swahili. I would not know.

I'd also do the entire competition in English. The forum is in English. FACTS promotes itself as the biggest convention in the Benelux and there are not enough people attending FACTS that speak both Dutch and French, so go for the language almost everybody has SOME grip on, English!

Just get somebody that has the friends and connections in Ghent to organise such a thing. Somebody with some knowledge of the Expo or atleast the intention of checking the Expo out.

And do pre-inscriptions that actually have a deadline - a week before FACTS or so - with better descriptions of the acts - possibly with the option to send the music along with the mail (or let them mail the music of the act to an email address) so that there are no longer issues with music being unable to play.

I feel like I am repeating myself. I feel like I wrote this kind of stuff on these boards a zillion times before.

[helliwood]

Feb 9, 2009 19:10:23 GMT 1 cartoonjessie said:

I feel like I am repeating myself. I feel like I wrote this kind of stuff on these boards a zillion times before.

So.. stop writing it ;D

[Starkiller]

Expo? Sweet.

Nice and big place!

Hopefully not as hot as last year. :3

Don't feel like sweating again. xD

[kirya]

phew, just caught up on 6 pages...
Let's just say... I hope it's not to big of a chaos...

[cartoonjessie]

Feb 10, 2009 18:40:59 GMT 1 helliwood said:

Feb 9, 2009 19:10:23 GMT 1 cartoonjessie said:

I feel like I am repeating myself. I feel like I wrote this kind of stuff on these boards a zillion times before.

So.. stop writing it ;D

If only it were that simple! XD Hehe.
Nah, quite hard to stop an old habit, isn't it?

[Barney]

Feb 9, 2009 14:51:22 GMT 1 Mr. Facts said:

(do you know another con where action star Jean-Claude van Damme has been present?)

Quite a few actually, San Diego Comic Con for example:
www.vandamme.ru/articles/1995/01-01-1995.htm

Like many actors in straight-to-DVD movies, he often visits conventions as a guest star to earn that bit of extra cash in between shootings, promote new movies coming out and meet the fans.

[Mr. Facts]

Feb 11, 2009 22:55:24 GMT 1 Barney said:

Feb 9, 2009 14:51:22 GMT 1 Mr. Facts said:

(do you know another con where action star Jean-Claude van Damme has been present?)

Quite a few actually, San Diego Comic Con for example:
www.vandamme.ru/articles/1995/01-01-1995.htm

Like many actors in straight-to-DVD movies, he often visits conventions as a guest star to earn that bit of extra cash in between shootings, promote new movies coming out and meet the fans.

Thanks for comparing us with the San Diego con.
In 1995? Hey, that was the year we had our first two very first guests artists.

[mysteriousmaemi]

A new place, it sounds great!
Especially the fact that you can park your car next to it. ;-)

Just like Rogue I am a little concerned because it is bigger but will the set up (dealers, artists, cosplay, ...) be better?
I mean it would be difficult to put a huge stage next to a cafeteria right? ;-)

Also what I like to suggest is more sitting places where you can eat or just rest. :-)

Regarding the cosplay competition, the online subscription is still a good idea. But I do agree with CartoonJessie: set up a deadline!
Try to keep the subscriptions only online and let the cosplayers complete their registration at the stand at FACTS.
This is done in London, Paris, ... and it goes more smoothly.
Keep the presentation in English (this is a BENELUX meeting, an ENG forum + website).
No hard feelings to our mothertongues but if you present it in 1 language, the competition will go smoother (now we lost time because of the traduction).

[cartoonjessie]

Traduction is French, ;-) You should speak English here, maemi. *poke* Just kidding, ofcourse, but you were probably looking for the word Translation.

I hope the new place WILL be bigger. At first I was like: "Huray!" but hearing that we do not have access to ALL the area the Expo offers, I wonder if we are gonna get MORE room to walk about between stalls and if there will be a bigger cosplay room.

You put it like: "The people were sitting nicely on the ground looking at the cosplay competition..." but this was NOT a good thing! Many people simply could not enter and see the show because the floor was so crammed with people!!! The area was simply too small.

Also, ONE EHBO PERSON FOR about 10 000 PEOPLE? What if a fight breaks out between two or more visitors or whatever? Three people bleeding! ONE PERSON??? In Lanaken, all events they do here as atleast 3 EHBO people to cover it if something happens! ONE PERSON???!!!!

I am simply: *gasp*
YOU WERE ACTUALLY SERIOUS ABOUT ONE PERSON DOING EHBO???

[Barney]

Feb 12, 2009 8:54:29 GMT 1 Mr. Facts said:

Thanks for comparing us with the San Diego con.

You might want to hold your horses there as I did NOT compare you to Dragon Con. I was merely stating that J-C Van Damme does appear on other conventions as well and this edition of Dragon Con just happened to be the first one of which I found proof to back up my claim. I don't make remarks like this one, unless I can back them up with something and it took no more than 2 minutes to look it up.

[Rogue]

@mr. Facts; Yes, I was serious about the fact that there was more.
I haven't talked about the cosplay competition yet.
About what moving to the Expo will mean for the location of the guests, dealers and so the price for a standing?
What about "weapons" this year, what about noise pollution on the place itself due to so much visitors (probably cosplayers on stage and gamers too) in one room?
What services will the fanclubs get? Will there be dressing rooms, or private rooms for the guests when they would like to take a break?
What about EHBO this year? As Jessie mentioned, really, ONE person for over 9000 visitors.. The results could have been disasterrific..
Imagine the person takes break? Someones pacemaker decides to also take a break?
Luckily nothing really bad did happen ^^;


About the cosplay competition everything is said already I guess.
I just want to add; if you're willing to organise something, you must be capable of organising it.
BCT did quite a decent job on for example Asianim in 2007, it was by far the best cosplaycontest I've assisted to (I haven't seen many so people who are a little offended by this..) , but it doesn't seem to work for bigger conventions, and the same technical difficulties repeat themself over and over.
Getting a list printed with the persons who participate, judges who really know what they are judging, starting on time, music or sounds that need to be played during sketches, ...
Asianim this year was the worst. I don't want to offend BCT as persons, but the professional, organising side could be worked on, sorry to say :s
It's too bad that something that could go really smooth with a few applications and strict schedule, and would provide for a great entertainment moment, latest times makes more and more of a dissapointment


I REALIZE that cosplay and all around it is not main part of the Facts-convention, that you focus more on the general public that buy figurines, cards, comics and what more there can be. Facts doesn't stand for cosplayers.
BUT this IS a part of the convention that attracts a lot of attention. The crowd that's wanting to view the show every year..
It's HUGE. (yes I love this word, I can play the silly girl with it)
And it keeps on growing.
Btw, I'm afraid - sadly enough - that seats aren't going be an option, Maemi-chan - you see them placing over 150 chairs in a room where there is a lot of walking traffic?



I don't know about most technical details, like the organising and such, even as I didn't know about the non-profit side of Facts, I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
I understand that organising a convention that big isn't that easy, far from. I really do understand.
But every year, people complain about the same things :s
That must mean there are some things that don't turn around the clock that keep on returning, doesn't it?


You know, abouth the entrace fee; I would gladly pay more as entrace fee if the convention got really bigger. What I'm talking about is, if you encluded the main hall in the convention and stocked it full with the fanclubs and guests, and keep the 2 sidehalls for dealers, foodstores and the such, I think that would be a neat outcome!
Don't know about my comrades, though.
Thank you for replying to my post from before, Mr. Facts. It's not needed to answer the ones I've posed now, too, I just wanted to loose what's been bugging me.


@jessie again; there's more about the sitting on the ground during the contest.
People who NEED to sit; older people, epilepticists, someone with weak legs, weak heart, dunno?


@self; Wow. Big post is big

[grafunkel]

People have been asking for years to take F.A.C.T.S. to the Expo, and make it an even bigger event.

This year, F.A.C.T.S. will be at the Expo, and it will be an even bigger event.

With me? Good.

Will there be a change in admission price? Probably. You can't expect to pay for one cake and eat two.

Will there be some glitches in the matrix? Probably. F.A.C.T.S. has been taking place in the I.C.C. building for ages, but even the F.A.C.T.S.-crew's many years of experience couldn't always prevent some details not working out the way everyone would've wanted them to. And this year, it's in a whole new building, with lots of new challenges for the crew in regards to transportation, logistics, parking space, security, catering, and just general organisation...
(The factory where I work at often has large stands at various international conventions, and my department is directly responsible for the design and organisation of those stands... believe me: no mean feat. And that's just putting a stand together, not organising a complete convention)

Will it be hot? Probably. Lots of nerds (N.U.R.D.'s?), lots of cute cosplaying girls... I predict an extremely local heatwave. But I think the Expo will have an even better airco-system then the I.C.C.

But... will I be at F.A.C.T.S. this year?

Hell yes.

[dakath]

One more question about the first aid service;

Can you tell me how it is possible that there was only 1 first aid helper present on the event? Well present... If he wasn't sick.

I have never seen an event this size with only 1 first aid helper.

Is the person qualified with a valid certificate from the department of healtcare or the Belgian Red Cross?

What if a visitor get a heart attack or complicated fracture?
The answer can be that the ambulance service of the nearest fire station or hospital can be there in a few minutes but they have to make way through a lot of "disaster tourists"

I'm always concerned about the safety of my family and I on an event so I'm looking looking forward the the answers.

[cartoonjessie]

@ rogue: I have absolutely NOTHING against the people that want to sit on the ground - I - myself - would have done so too if I had been watching! I mean: They let EVERYONE take part in the cosplay, it takes like 3 hours to finish it!!! NO WAY am I expecting everyone to keep on standing for all that period - but as a result - some people can not get in at all!

My point is:
- either they let people sit down BUT take a larger room to organise the cosplay event in
- or the let people stand BUT limit the number of cosplays so that a show of one hour is filled as opposed to three hours.

[fab1]

Just checked the "F.A.C.T.S. history" - This is not the first time this fine convention had to change locations.

And the more I think about it the more it looks to me like the gain outweighs the loss.

Here's what we gain:

1) More (natural) light. Being located in the "Casino" along with the comics guests we noticed that it was decidedly dark there compared with the first hall (that's where the actors were). Taking photos in the "Casino" wasn't easy and the results have been (at best) mediocre.

2) Location on one floor only. This is GOOD! It's good for everyone in a wheelchair (obvious) but it's also good for everyone wearing outrageously complicated costumes. I saw several ladies fighting with their robes while trying to get up- or downstairs. And it will accommodate the lazy people who (even during the second time it was part of the con) haven't been able to find the first floor.

3) Parking Space. Obvious, too.

4) (Hopefully) Better catering. Not an issue for myself (I tend to bring my own food and drink) but a lot of people seem to have felt quite uncomfortable with the Cantina as it was.

The only thing I'm a tad worried about is the size of the con in itself. Whenever events like open air festivals or conventions get too large they tend to lose their charme and with it a lot of their regular visitors.

So the F.A.C.T.S. crew will find they'll have some extra work to do this time in order to retain the charme and uniqueness of their convention.

Can they manage? I hope so.

Will they give their best? I'm sure of it - They do so every year.

[e-Mino]

Feb 12, 2009 20:42:27 GMT 1 dakath said:

One more question about the first aid service;

Can you tell me how it is possible that there was only 1 first aid helper present on the event? Well present... If he wasn't sick.

I have never seen an event this size with only 1 first aid helper.

Is the person qualified with a valid certificate from the department of healtcare or the Belgian Red Cross?

What if a visitor get a heart attack or complicated fracture?
The answer can be that the ambulance service of the nearest fire station or hospital can be there in a few minutes but they have to make way through a lot of "disaster tourists"

I'm always concerned about the safety of my family and I on an event so I'm looking looking forward the the answers.

Hi there,

thank you for your reply.

Please rest assured: from this year on we will have a proper booth from the Red Cross at the convention itself, thus assuring first aid on site.

Best,

Emmanuel

[boomvavavoom]

Feb 13, 2009 2:21:11 GMT 1 fab1 said:

Can they manage? I hope so.

ofcourse!!

We are making this one extra memorable!!!

[Malkavian]

I'll be present like clockwork, even when i worked in Liverpool i came to Belgium just for FACTS First time in ICC was my First FACTS, so am a regular

The only suggestion i have (and i made it in the Aftermath of 2008 also)
Make a Combi Ticket. 2 day ticket for better price than 2*1 day ticket.

As an example (not exact prices) : Day ticket is 12 euro (which makes 2 days, 24 euro) so a DUO ticket would be 19-20 euro. Saves us a 4-5 euro for the weekend (i always go with girlfriend so that 8-10 euro) Make them Pre-order so you KNOW how many will go both days. µ

Just an idea, that i think would be great to push down the "entrance fee" complaints

[mysteriousmaemi]

I agree with Malkie. ;-)

cartoonjessie: you're right. That what happens if you switch all the time from languages. ;-)

[cinder]

wow, I should stay away longer and see what else they'll change ;D ;D ;D

no more ICC, snif snif... oh well we'll live.

Remind me to set the gps for EXPO then...