By Gabriel Neeb
The 2024 San Diego Comedian-Con has been thought-about the primary “actual” San Diego Comedian-Con since 2019 because it was considered unburdened by COVID restrictions or strikes by Hollywood writers and artists. Nonetheless, such a situation additionally meant a return to “actual” considerations for an occasion as giant because the Con.
At a packed Comedian-Con Talkback in Room 25ABC on Sunday, July 28, 2024, many conference goers gathered to precise their considerations about many issues that occurred within the months resulting in the Con and occasions on the Con itself.
Conference representatives had been Eddie Ibrahim (Senior Programming Director), David Glanzer (Chief Communications And Technique), Craig Fellows (VP Operations), and Robin Donlan (President- San Diego Comedian Conference). On a private be aware, I’ve been attending the Talkback panel on and off for many of a decade, and often, it’s one consultant.
This one had 4.
One of many largest areas of concern was the issues the screening of Deadpool & Wolverine had prompted. This was purported to be the primary large, public screening of the film and there was quite a lot of preparation concerned, together with on-line ticketing and the primary time Corridor H had ever been cleared of individuals in Con historical past (Glanzer: “…don’t know if we’ll do [that] once more.”).
Some of the outstanding complaints was from individuals who had authentic tickets and didn’t get in. There have been accounts of people that didn’t even have Con badges- utilizing screenshots of tickets to realize entry and stories that scans of tickets registering as false had been granted entry anyway. What was much more disturbing was the poor line administration by contract safety. In some way, the entrance of the road managed to swell within the time earlier than the doorways opened, and there was a really actual menace of stampedes by the 1000’s in that line.
The Conference employees was properly conscious of the problems and said that they’d plans for the screening, however circumstances overwhelmed even these plans. Within the phrases of David Glanzer, “There was a line. There was a plan and there was failure on many ranges.” The Conference intends to launch an investigation into the breakdowns and asks that the audio system ship their accounts to the Con through the web site (https://www.comic-con.org/contact/).
One other situation of concern was that of resort rooms and ‘Hotelpocalypse’ – the annual occasion when attendees attempt to safe lodging for the Con and typically fail to take action. This led to a really in depth dialogue by Con personnel about issues between motels and the Conference. The most important one was that motels have been scaling again obtainable rooms supplied to the Conference at reasonably priced costs. The Conference negotiates for rooms three years out (the plans and negotiations for 2026 are at the moment being finalized), however the Con employees was clear that their continued keep in San Diego was depending on motels preserving rooms obtainable at reasonably priced costs. The Con doesn’t wish to “value out” the attendees, and if followers of the Con wrote to the vacationer board of San Diego expressing their considerations, that wouldn’t be unappreciated (https://www.sandiego.org/meeting-planners/services-resources.aspx).
Maybe one of the crucial “humorous” points introduced up was the horrible web site. As in, it’s not very helpful and discovering something on it’s, at finest, troublesome. One commenter supplied to do free consulting to construct a greater web site as long as he would by no means must cope with Hotelpocalypse. Glanzer said that modifications are nonetheless being made to the web site and any ideas can be welcome by way of San Diego Comedian-Con’s web site (https://www.comic-con.org/contact/).
