I’ll go through feedback in order of the number of times an issue was mentioned.

“The schedule was too packed”

At the time of writing this, there are 33 cosplay cons in Norway, with most of them following the format where the visitors will be able to see more or less everything the Con has to offer. Magicon has since the very start had a fully packed program, and will unfortunately for a handful of you, continue to do so. Why, you may ask? With such a diverse community, filled with people who enjoy a broad spectrum of fandoms and subjects, no single schedule would please everyone. One solution is to provide content that appeals to a wider audience while at the same time making sure we provide the “core-content” expected at a cosplay convention. Magicon has 2 days, 8 hours and 3 stages, which equals 48 hours of content. However, you as a single visitor only have 16, which means you’re put in the difficult position of having to choose how to spend your time. A few of you really dislike this, and that’s unfortunate. Magicon has ambitions of growing and to do that we must also cater to people who are not only interested in the big competitions (which is about 40% of our visitors btw). If you raise your gaze just a tiny bit, beyond Norway’s borders, you’ll see that this is common practice all over the world.

Quote:
“I expect you’ll receive negative feedback about the program being too stacked, I just want to say that I think it should stay like this or even more stacked in the future! The Norwegian community at the moment is not used to having to choose and priorities, but that does not mean you’re doing anything wrong. As long as there are enough people to make each program fun, that is good.”

“Lack of Accessability”

Accessibility is an important subject, and one that Magicon always has, and will continue to take very seriously. I have to address what was actually the case, as uninformed opinions on the issue were enthusiastically shared in SoMe. Oslo Konserthus is usually a very accessible venue, it has two lifts in the lobby area, an additional lift for larger electric wheelchairs, two accessible restrooms and reserved spots in all the stages. With their usual setup, there’s full accessibility to all of their events. However, Magicon was not their usual setup. This is due to the lower part of the first floor lobby being used for vendors and parts of the artist alley. We tried to get support from “hjelpemiddelsentralen”, but due to the design of the stairs (odd angles, short steps, etc), it proved difficult to find practical solutions. We will continue to try to find workarounds though. A couple of you say we should find a better venue, and believe me, if there was one we would be there. The only other venue that’s fully (?) accessible is Varemessa (Nova Spektrum), and we’re not large enough for that just yet. Please be assured that we don’t take this lightly, but there is simply a lack of suitable venues that we can choose from that are also fully accessible.. What we’ll definitely do is to provide better and more information about accessibility if we end up at Konserthuset again. (I thought one of the toilets was a lift… blueprints are weird sometimes.)

“More signs and/or printed schedules/maps!”

Ah yes, I’ve been looking forward to this one! I finally have the data I need to address this properly. For the first two Magicon, we had basic signs for rooms, queues, directions, backstage etc and around 5% of visitors reported lack of signage. For the third Magicon (Evolution) we spent tens of thousands on maps, schedules and other signs, which we hung on all floors of Chateau Neuf, and 15% of visitors reported lack of signage. This year, we went back to the original amount of basic signs, but we released the app for iOS and improved the design of the map and website. This resulted in 1% reported lack of signage. When asked “was it easy to find the information you were looking for?” our score for Evolution was an unimpressive 7.3, but this year it’s up to an incredible 9.0. There’s many conclusions one could come to with these numbers, but to me it seems like those who choose to look for the information they need have been able to do so in the information provided on the three different platforms Magicon communicates (Website, App and Instagram).

“Not enough food options”

Oslo Konserthus has a third party company running their bar/cafe and they choose what they want to sell. Within a 4-minute walk from the venue, there are at least 13 different places that sell a wide variety of food. I can almost guarantee there’ll be less options at any other venue. (Unless we rig Tons of Rock a weekend before and do Tons of Magicon? Let’s gooo!?!?!)

“Rude staff from the venue”

We’ll have a debrief with them in August where we’ll address this. As an explanation and not an excuse I’ll add this: They’ve never hosted anything like this before, and due to the format being so different, certain staff were not properly informed that doors did not shut 30min after show ends (which is the norm). However, sleepy “Bertha” (age 78) did not need to be rude about it.

Quickfire round! (2 or less people reported these opinions)

[Please note: mild sarcasm and humor may apply]
There should be more competitors in each competition: Not unless you want more delays.
There was a tech issue: Yes, one stage logged into the wrong Spotify account and they had a mighty battle.
There were no good photo spots close to the venue: Did we go to the same convention?
I could not find the photo booth: I can recommend using the app, Instagram or website.
Con should be in Norwegian: Consider one of the 31 other options available in Norway.
There were no signs: There were 78 signs to be exact.
There were too many Artists: Again, you’ll always have too many options at Magicon, that’ll never change.
Volume was too high: Ok
Volume was too low: Ok
You should add more casual activities: Absolutely, we will!
Ticket price was too high: Of the larger Norwegian conventions there are three that cost more than Magicon for a weekend pass. All of them are also non-profit. I don’t know how you want us to fund this.

Special addition: “You only added more artists in the artist alley to make more money”.
Ok, you’ve clearly not understood how a non-profit convention works, so let me take this step by step: 1: Nobody in Magicon “makes” money. Tickets and fees only cover existing costs. 2: The way Magicon runs the artist alley does not even “make” money for other parts of the con, it’s pretty much a closed eco-system financially. I look at the Artist Alley as a part of the content of the con, and it comes with some costs. Let me explain. Every artist in the artist alley takes up one spot which we can’t sell to “normal” visitors, so that’s a “cost” of 675,- per person. The majority had a helper, so double that, then add the cost of table and chairs, we’re up to right under 2000,-. Then if you add the added costs of the areas they’re in (we pay per area we rent) it’ll be quite a lot more. An artist table for 2 people costs them 1250,-. Tell me again how we’re making more money on the Artist Alley. Sorry for going on a tangent on this one, but making up stuff like this annoys the daylight outta me. We love our Artist Alley and will continue to make it as awesome as it can be!

I’ve saved this for last, as it is my favourite feedback:

“You should stop with the snarky comments in the reports”
The snarky comments will continue until morale improves.