Otakon

Otakon (oh-tah-kon, ) is a fan convention in the United States focusing on East Asian popular culture (primarily anime, manga, music, and cinema) and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku. Otakon is traditionally held on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in late summer at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district. Otakon is one of the longest-running Anime conventions in the United States, and the second largest, averaging over 22,000 paid attendees since 2005. Even so, the convention has expanded since then, with attendance above 26,000 in both 2008 and 2009 and attendance unofficially surpassing 29,000 in 2010.

Programming
As one of the longest running and largest conventions of its type, Otakon offers a very broad range of programming, exhibits, and other events. Typical Otakon programming includes:

Video programming

 * Multiple video rooms in which anime and live action East Asian films are shown on big screens throughout the convention. Fan-produced content including fan-parodies and anime music videos (AMVs) are also shown.  For several years, Otakon had a dedicated 35 mm film theater, but replaced it in 2008 with an HD theater to take advantage of the wider array of offerings in that format.

Panels and workshops

 * Panels and workshops on subjects such as voice acting, how to draw manga, Japanese culture, and a variety of other topics. Industry professionals announce new acquisitions, and expert guests discuss or show tricks of their trade and field questions from the audience. Many panels and workshops are conducted by fans rather than pros (ex. Create a Comic Project).

Costume events

 * Cosplay and a skit-based Masquerade show, which in recent years has taken place inside the 1st Mariner Arena. Many attendees spend most of the convention in costume as their favorite anime, manga, or video game character. Many enter daily contests, and some participate in skits in the Masquerade show, one of the largest convention events.  There is also a cosplay contest and a photo suite where attendees can have their photos professionally taken in costume.

Art events

 * "The Alley", an artists alley with writers, musicians, and craftspeople as well, and a separate art show for amateur artists to display, advertise, sell, and auction their artwork. Furthermore, there is a contest in building models.

Music

 * Musical performances throughout the weekend. Since 2003, there has been at least one concert at each convention featuring a Japanese musical guest.
 * Otakon also features what is known as the "Otakafé" and hosts karaoke as well.

Gaming

 * A video game room for console, arcade, and computer games, with tournaments scheduled throughout the weekend.

Merchandise

 * A "Dealers' Room" in which commercial vendors such as publishers and retailers set up booths and sell anime- and manga-related merchandise.

Friday and Saturday night dance

 * The "Otakurave", a late-night dance party hosted by Baltimore-Washington area (and sometimes national) DJ's.

Autographs

 * Opportunities to meet guests and collect autographs at no additional charge.

Live-action role-playing (LARP)

 * Weekend-long anime-themed live-action role-playing with hundreds of participants.

Events for younger children

 * A special children's track called Ota-chan.

Otakon 2010
At one point in the early afternoon during Saturday, July 31 of Otakon 2010, the entire Baltimore Convention Center had to be evacuated due to a fire alarm, although there was in fact no fire. Hours of certain events and rooms were adjusted accordingly to accommodate for lost time.

Facilities
Otakon has been located in the Baltimore Convention Center at least in part for every year beginning in 1999, though it soon expanded to require the entire convention center and more recently, other buildings as well. Events such as the masquerade now place in the 1st Mariner Arena, located one block away, and at least some programming takes place in the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel, connected to the Convention Center by its skybridge, as was the case in both 2009 and 2010.

Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel and Otakon
The Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel opened on Friday, August 22, 2008. Otakon has been promised a minimum of 30000 sqft out of a total 45000 sqft by the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel. Otakon is utilizing the Hilton for hotel rooms in 2009 and has confirmed that they will use the Hilton for the convention itself, however as of August 23, 2008, it's too early to determine what will be at the Hilton and what will remain at the Baltimore Convention Center. As of February 7, 2009, Otakon posted information on its panels for Otakon 2009 and it confirms that panel space will be in the Baltimore Convention Center and will be expanded into the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center hotel. Otakon 2009 utilized in the Hilton, the Poe meeting room for its Manga Library and the Key Ballroom for two additional panel rooms and 1 additional autographs room.

Otakorp
Otakon is run by the Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization Otakorp, Inc. whose focus is on using East Asian popular culture as a gateway to increase understanding of East Asian culture.

Otakon is the annual meeting of Otakorp, Inc. Otakon attendees do not purchase "tickets" to Otakon; they actually become a member of the non-profit organization that runs Otakon with their paid attendance to the convention. Everyone who pays the annual membership fee to attend Otakon is also a supporting member for Otakorp and is able to participate in sanctioned events, contests, or giveaways that might occur during the year.

All staff are unpaid volunteers, although registration tasks are supplemented by temporary workers provided by the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association, and certain services such as legal and accounting work are by contract. Otakon also enlists the help of non-staff assistants, whom are referred to as gofers. Otakon 2006 listed over 500 staff on its roster, though not all work the convention directly, though in a similar count, Otakon 2010 listed 685 staff on its roster.

Otakorp, Inc. also sponsors film screenings as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, and assists with programming at other film festivals.

Economic impact on Baltimore
As of July 17, 2009, Otakon has had a great economic impact with its host, the City of Baltimore. Otakon has had the highest economic impact in Baltimore for 2008 and 2007 and has been a top convention for Baltimore since 2003. Otakon 2008 had an economic impact of $27.2 million and booked over 4,500 hotel rooms.

Future expansion
In light of Otakon's consistent growth and the continuing popularity of anime in North America, Otakon expects to continue for many years. The Baltimore Convention Center is likely to remain the primary venue for Otakon, mainly due to a lack of other venues of sufficient size in the area.

Four-day convention
While the idea of a four-day convention has some support among the general membership (especially among younger members), the idea has been summarily dismissed as unworkable by Otakon staff. It was attempted in 1995, over a holiday weekend, back when Otakon fit comfortably in a small hotel, and even then it was an exhausting prospect that didn't pay off. In those days, the entire convention could be set up in a matter of hours, while it currently takes two full days to prepare the site. At its current size and functional requirements, Otakon would face a significant additional expense in running an extra day, and both industry and dealers have said that it would not be worth their time and money to attend a fourth day. Finally, it is clear that few staffers would be able to afford the extra day (most staffers already use as much as a week of vacation time to help run the con). With almost zero support from staff, industry, or dealers, there is virtually no chance that Otakon will ever attempt a four-day convention again.

Facility Expansion Options
From various comments by the organization's senior staff, it seems clear that there are only two serious contenders for possible expansion of the convention: expanding within Baltimore to the new Hilton hotel, which is attached to the BCC, or moving to the much larger D.C. Convention Center. It also seems clear that while DC remains the most viable option if the convention moves, the new convention hotel would be a more logical expansion choice. (Other nearby locations such as Philadelphia are simply not large enough to accommodate Otakon, or have been ruled out as unsuitable.)

Otakon 2006 convention chair, Jim Vowles, has stated that there is no firm decision to move Otakon to the D.C. Convention Center due to cost and logistics. Vowles stated that "the move to DC would be a bigger challenge than some people think -- and the true cost is as yet unknown" and that it would take "at least a year to plan any such move", and that if Otakon does indeed decide to move from Baltimore "it should be considered a more or less permanent move if at all possible."

Mr. Vowles continues, "Realistically, unless the BCC is leveled and rebuilt, it will not be a serious competitor with DC, but it may continue to suit our needs for quite a while. Eventually, we're either going to reach the plateau of our growth, or we're going to need to move, and at that point it's pretty much got to be DC. But Baltimore and the BCC have been our home base since 1999, and we put in two years in Hunt Valley before our big growth in the mid/late nineties. I don't see us casually tossing that history aside. So in the meanwhile, we continue to investigate the options in ever greater detail. Real hard numbers are the next stage of the game." Later comments indicated that the differences in how the convention would use the space were likely to mean a significant increase in cost.

In a 2006 interview with Geeknights, a talk radio show (self-described as being for hobbyists, tinkerers, and, for lack of a better word, geeks. The hosts "Rym and Scott delve into topics ranging from computer science to Eurogaming, anime to fantasy fiction, indie comics to gadgetry"), in which Vowles again denied a possible move, and noted how determined Baltimore City was to keep the convention around. "Baltimore at this point is motivated to keep us, and they're putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. This year we've seen a noted increase in city support for the event. And frankly, we know pretty much exactly how to use Baltimore's space, and we know all the local players, from hotels to venues to vendors."

As Otakon has increasingly made use of the 1st Mariner Arena for large events, there is concern about proposals to shut down or relocate that facility in the future.