I honestly don’t know why anime convention schedules are still such a big issue.
The problem:
Anime con schedules guests, panels, events. Anime con prints schedule one month to two weeks before con. Two weeks before con, schedule changes drastically: panels are added or dropped, events are moved, guests are canceled.
The solution:
Google Docs.
Anime fandom at conventions has changed drastically in the past three years with the mass adoption of mobile technologies (ie., smart phones). Numerous conventions have utilized Twitter for updates and made multiple changes to the designs and interfaces of their websites to push the constant activity of fans on Web-enabled phones into a better comprehension of how the convention works (eg., maps, food, hotels, and particularly schedules). However the latter of this list still proves difficult.
Last year, Otakon experimented with an online personal schedule system, so that each con-goer could manipulate the schedule with highlights of his or her favorite events. Ultimately, it was a good idea with poor execution. Near the main entrance, staffers placed two wide-screen television sets projecting the schedule, which ended up being too big to see the three days in their entirety. Also, with the lack of Internet* in the Baltimore Convention Center, along with not-so-great cell phone reception inside the building, the online schedule was pretty inaccessible.
* This seriously needs to be changed. Too many anime fans rely on the Internet for communication. Anime Boston, at least, has stepped up in the past few years by providing free wireless.
Let me reiterate: We can solve the con schedule problem with Google Docs.
1) Con staffer creates master schedule in Google Spreadsheet. Staffer publishes document as public webpage.
2) Con attendee can download document via phone (after installing appropriate and frequently free app). Attendee can manipulate document via Save As.
3) When necessary, con staffer can update Speadsheet with necessary changes and highlight in yellow. Update then tweeted to convention public.
4) Con attendee can notes changes via Twitter message and download new version of document.
It’s easy. It’s free. It’s scalable (zoom in and out). The staffer can even include a second page on the Spreadsheet with the panel descriptions.
So why aren’t we seeing more convention innovations like this?
From my own experience, it’s a matter of manpower and logistics management, and then there’s an issue of money. Baltimore Convention Center charges money for wifi, and Otakon isn’t some kind of yuppie silicon valley affair, so they really have no reason to pay for free wifi for attendees (even if they could and can afford it, and that’s probably a no in the second case and a “is it even possible?” in the first). I suspect the same kind of deal for a lot of other cons. They’ve raised the membership fee by $10 this year, so I’d rather that less money go to something that is “wanted” and more money go to something that is “needed.” I think this scheduling-updates-over-the-net thing is somewhere in between the two, but it’s not a necessity.
I think the Hynes Convention Center in Boston provides free wifi as a part of the convention’s own attraction. That’s a freebie to the con and the attendees.
Google doc is probably excessive. I think the built-in scheduling tool they used last year can easily be adopted or extended for this purpose. The problem is you have to have someone who is available the whole time to update any changes coming down from the chain of command, and as a con run by volunteers it’s not something you can count on.