Inappropriate venue, you say?
In a stunning turnaround, rumor has it that Draftcon has lost 100% of it’s event space, at least a 50% increase over the supposed loss of space that Nightmare Nights faced last year from the only thing that got people interested in the con in the first place (hint, its not final draft or his ego): The Mall of America
According to a article yesterday by a local FOX affiliate, the hotel used by MLP-MSP has been deemed a inappropriate venue by the Bloomington port authority, citing that the venue is "functionally obsolete". The Mall of America has purchased the hotel and the property, and has slated the hotel to close in 30-60 days, way before the MLP-MSP event.
Even attempts to book a room through the hotel has came up with this
As for the future of the con, lets hope final was #professional enough to include a decent cancellation clause in the contract, its the only way the con can happen this year.
At press time Draftcon has not issued a public statement about how this effects the convention this year.
Questions from prospective attendees and vendors have apparently not been answered.
On a personal note: Don't call this a unfortunate circumstance, call it "karmic justice" for EQLA
Another convention in that hotel has given this information:
Another convention in that hotel has given this information:
UPDATE: The convention has released a statement:
"
Announcement Regarding Our Forced Change of Venue
We’re blaming Discord.
Good evening, friends! We have some news to share with you about the venue for our con. We were hoping to have more information to share with you before addressing the situation, but as it’s going to take a bit to sort things out we didn’t want to wait any longer to give an initial update.
As you may have already heard, the contracted venue for MLP-MSP 3, the Ramada MSP Airport at the Mall, has been sold and will be out of business in the next 30-60 days. As a result we will need to find a different venue for the convention. Several other cons have been affected by this as well including Anime Fusion, 2D Con,Crypticon, Tol-Con, and many others. The support the community has shown for the convention scene has been nothing short of heartwarming, and we thank you all for the messages we’ve received in the last 24 hours.
Our management team is already hard at work finding a new venue for MLP-MSP 3. Our primary concern is doing right by the hundreds of people that have already purchased tickets, so keeping the convention on the same weekend and in the same general area is our top priority. We also promise to keep badge costs the same and also want to keep room costs and everything else in the same ballpark as well, so it may take a bit to find the best answer for everyone involved. As Nightmare Nights detailed a little while ago, convention finances are a complicated beast, so while this task will be challenging, we assure all of you that we are on top of the situation and are moving as quickly as we can to find a solution.
We’re going to miss the Ramada. It may not be the most modern facility, but the history of the Thunderbird and the character of the place is what brought us back for our third year. A new home will open up opportunities to try different things though, so we’re excited to get started making plans for our new space as soon as we’ve selected one!
Any hotel reservations will be cancelled and if you need any confirmations of cancellation the Guestroom Reservation Manager, Kendra Goelz,will send those to you."
I think the word we're looking for is clause, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteMLPMSP = Major League Problems, Money Spent Poorly
ReplyDeleteHey all. Charlie Worthley, PR Director for MLP-MSP 3 here. We've posted an announcement regarding this situation.
ReplyDeletehttp://mlp-msp.com/change-of-venue/
For what it's worth: Our convention, like all others, is a group effort of all the people behind the scenes, currently counting in at 43 volunteers. Everyone on our management team is hard at work finding a new venue, and we'll post updates on our site and social media as soon as we have news to share. I am incredibly proud of the event our team put on last year, and have every hope that we will be able to outdo ourselves this year, in spite of this complication.
RIP in pieces Draft shill con! Long live EFN, HAHAHA.
Deletehttps://media.giphy.com/media/SriJPYsPgvpNm/giphy.gif
DeleteDidn't you hear? Everybody who knows what goes on in the fandom doesn't like Final Shaft. The only reason people go to cons and panels involving him is because of the guests that are there.
DeleteHow can you be proud of the event the team put on last year when half of them left because of draft?
Delete"half of them left because of draft"
DeleteSource?
That's my point. I don't care what you think of him. He is one of dozens of people that work their butts off to make MLP-MSP happen, myself included. Reducing situations like this down to petty insults and drama surrounding a single person are both pointless and insulting to all the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think he involves himself with other conventions, though? I'll tell you why- he does it feed his overly self inflated ego, to feel like he's worth more than he actually is in a fandom that he feels owes him.
DeleteA lot of people helped make MLP-MSP happen. Maybe Draft helped a lot behind the scenes but when it came to AV setup, event planning, and running the con he certainly did more harm than good.
Deleteimo when one runs around with their name and rank showing it's generally the equivalent of pissing on the fandom. Not only does it stink but we generally know who did it AND where. It's one of the biggest problems that Draft (and most other people deal with who run on that level of publicity, con chairs included) deals with. If the teams were kept below the radar and they treated others as peers we wouldn't have the egos we have today (You may of missed a previous discussion, but tl;dr I can't think of a single comic/anime con that I know the staff of).
ReplyDeleteOf course I'm a Zero, so no one knows who I am. Zing.
I thought I tacked it onto 2:40, man I must be dyslexic in the blazing.
DeleteI'm sorry, I'm struggling to understand what you're saying. If "one runs around with their name and rank showing it's generally the equivalent of pissing on the fandom" was referring to me, I can't for the life of me understand what you mean. I'm certainly not here to brag or talk down to anyone, which is what I think you're implying? And I certainly don't think I have any more of an ego than the next person? How is any of this relevant?
DeleteI came here and posted what I did for two reasons: To point people finding this article to our response on the matter (the post hadn't been updated yet), and because it pissed me off that because the writer of this post doesn't like one person involved with the con that I have sunk countless hours into, that they are saying that this is "karmic justice" for EQLA", etc.
You shouldn't take things personal that are not directly targeting you man.
DeleteI believe the "name and rank" comment is about Draft and other assholes in the fandom that got too close to the show staff and have a modicum of influence do to popularity, or association with convention leads. These people often carry an attitude that they are above everyone else in the community, should be recognized as such and have no fears flaunting their standing, sometimes even gleefully using their influence not only for their benefit, but to attack their critics.
"and because it pissed me off"
Deletehttps://media.giphy.com/media/ghzujcOsNE9RS/giphy.gif
This sort of think kinda reminds me of a certain season 5 episode!
DeleteCharlie - 95% of the remark was directed towards Draft and others who tend to be known and ruin the reputation of certain things just because 'they exist within them'. The other 5% was a jab at the fact that I've always found it a bit jarring to introduce oneself first rather than last...As doing the former feels like one is talking above (not down) the others. It leaves for a rather odd impression of people.
DeleteThe relevance is that you shouldn't be here to defend Draft. Just post what you need to (Why conventions don't have their one account in doing so is well beyond me) and don't worry about the others say. Once in defensive mode there really is no easy way out.
Personally, I've dealt with Draft both inside and outside pony conventions and I can understand why people feel the way they do. Also, Anon 08:16 explained it better than I could.
tl;dr if he is a part of the con and no one knows it there wouldn't be a reason to call it an EFN con (which EQLA also was, hence the relation).
Late reply, sorry Zero. Been busy with other things.
DeleteAgree to disagree on the protocol of introducing yourself first. I view situations like this just like entering a conversation in person, and I believe the first thing one should do is introduce themselves so that others know why they should even bother paying further attention.
I was never defending Draft. I was defending the con. I apologize if I didn't make that clear.
For that matter, your responses are exactly what frustrates me. The author of this article, yourself, and others seem to be treating MLP-MSP like Draft's personal pony party, and that it would only hurt him if it were to fail. Neither of these could be farther from the truth. I just wish the author would consider the bigger (and far more important) picture, but then I guess this wouldn't be Horse News if he did.
In which you're dealing with a person that would walk off if you went 'Hi I'm Charlie and I'm Pubic Relations with MLPMSP'. I find, especially with my experience in retail, that no one really gives a shit who you are unless you know what a customer wants.
DeleteThe problem is that last paragraph is not true by any means. Remember, if Draft's name is plastered all over this con then what HN, myself and the author's wording has a more sensible weight than what you're going by. This exists with any and all projects (fandom or not) where we put people significantly above the organization.
Just to clarify, I mean that customers mostly care about what they're shopping for rather than who is what and who knows what. Most of the time, job title is irrelevant.
DeleteI don't see our relationship as being anything like a salesperson/customer one, but agree to disagree, I guess.
Delete"if Draft's name is plastered all over this con" - His name is on the About Us page, once, along with 10 others, including mine. The way you're describing it may or may not have been the case in the past, but it's certainly not the case now. I suspect you may be letting old drama cloud your perceptions a bit.
There is a bit of grey area in which a convention could be considered either a 'product' or a 'service' depending on how one wishes to look at it. I liken it more towards a product because admission is a tangible (but non-transferable) good. I never said salesperson, as that is pretty much the opposite end of my own experiences.
DeleteConsidering it's on his Twitter bio it far exceeds the About Us page (which I guarantee as many people read that as the Terms and Conditions to a piece of Apple software). That alone makes him a PR agent whether he likes it or not. So look in the past all you want, but as long as he and other staffers put "I'm a part of @MLPMSP" on their Twitter bio they're continually bringing up the plaster every tweet they make.
Of course, I've had at least a half dozen roles in this fandom. I don't post them on my Twitter and I'm 84% certain no one knows what any of them are.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYou said "retail", that's how I got to "salesperson".
Delete"look in the past all you want" - I'm not. I couldn't care less about old drama.
"it's on his Twitter bio" - Right. So MLP-MSP might be "plastered" all over his or others' feeds or profiles, but not the other way around. And I of course never suggested that he wasn't involved, or even a large part. But it's hardly "his con", which is the point that we've strayed from. I'm not saying he's not involved, or a big part as a chair. But coming back to my initial complaint: "reducing situations like this down to petty insults and drama surrounding a single person are both pointless and insulting to all the rest of us."
Salespeople aren't generally a part of "retail" in a direct manner. I tend to think of that term used in things that often earn a commission or an incentive for high sales (Ever heard of a car salesman?).
DeleteIf it isn't "his con" he shouldn't have a need to identify himself as such. There is no way around that. And all I'm saying is that it's a two way street. He's adding fuel to it just by attaching his name to the convention. My point still firmly stands. If you don't want the petty insults and drama the next time (obviously as it's far gone for this one) Draft, yourself or whoever else wants to make something anew to not even tack his name publicly OUTSIDE the site.
"Salespeople aren't generally a part of "retail" in a direct manner"
Delete"Ever heard of a car salesman?"
That's a bit argumentative and a little condescending. Why yes, I have heard of a car salesman.
"If it isn't "his con" he shouldn't have a need to identify himself as such." Are you suggesting that convention chairs should not identify themselves as convention chairs?
No sarcasm - I genuinely don't know what your point is here. The most I can discern is that you feel that everyone that works on a con should be anonymous and not publicise their involvement, so that in case a person does something that you don't like for whatever reason it won't forever tarnish the name of the entire convention and negate all the other people that work on it as well as their reputations.
I can tell that you're very dedicated to this concept since you've bragged about your own anonymity and have mentioned how involved you've been in the past and how no one knows it. That's great, but as that leaves you with a resume of exactly zero to me (not that I think you care what I think) the things you're saying carry no weight at all. I don't have any way of knowing that you've ever even been to a con (again, not that I think you care).
Here's what I'll say. Come to MLP-MSP - or any of the other cons I'll be at this year - and introduce yourself. We'll have a beer and talk about this some more, and hopefully I can show you how MLP-MSP and the other cons I'm involved with are nothing like what you seem to think they are.
Yes, I'm suggesting convention chairs should not identify themselves with a convention. I'm only familiar with furry and brony conventions doing it and in general it puts people on a pedestal (the anime and comic conventions I go to I have no idea...And they don't publish...Who is at the top of the chain).
DeleteEvery single person who attaches their name to the convention, as I've said, is considered a PR agent whether or not they like it. There's plenty of people, myself included, that because I did not bother to attach my name to a convention in that once it failed I have little to no legal liability involved with it (including debts and stuff like that). True, I never had access or involvement with those functions to begin with but I like to avoid giving people doubt, y'know?
Which works well. The beauty about being an open book is that if a person asks me I will generally respond to it. I'm not one of those books whose pages flutter in the wind because I'm insecure (which is about the primary reason why people do such things).
Which is not the point I'm getting at. You can have the best con but if you got a person, who is known for being a pain in the ass, being the public face people are going to look at that con in light of that regardless of how it operates. In fact, it's probably why I CAN show my face around the fandom these days.
I'll again have to agree to disagree. Only using myself as an example, I work very hard and care very much about the conventions that I contribute to, and I want my resume to reflect my successes so that if/when I want to contribute to other things I have proof to show of my skills, work ethic, and character. (Given, this approach works much better when you're not running around pissing people off, but I don't think I'm doing that. I hope.)
DeleteI respect that your approach works well for you, but I ask you to consider that your approach might not work best for everyone else; which is only slightly relevant to my point in trying to prove that a convention is worth far more than the sum of its parts, and certainly any one single part.
Which is fine, I'm merely saying using social media or the Internet as your resume is not only the wrong thing to do but it is a one shot to being obliterated in certain circumstances (i.e. me living in a fire at will state means my employment can be terminated for ANY reason). In fact, it's more or less paradoxical in the sense that how many people tweet their passion can come across as being toxic or dickish simply because of how people interpret things (which I try to account for in most of my endeavors).
DeleteAnd what I'm trying to say (and more people may agree with) is that no matter the sum of the parts if you have a person that is a massive liability it will completely overshadow the assets they are. You're going to have to accept it's Draft-con whether you like it or not and no amount of talk is going to change people's minds.
Clearly I'm not going to change *your* mind, or probably the minds of most that frequent this site and subscribe to such ideas. Fortunately there are plenty of people that don't.
DeleteTo each their own, I suppose. That offer for chat and beer is a standing one, should you ever decide to collect. I'll buy.
I met Final Draft at a con once. He called me a nigger.
ReplyDeletepics or it didn't happen
DeleteIt will be held in Final Draft's basement.
ReplyDeleteWill I need to bring my own spaghetti or will spaghetti be held out on site ?
Delete