I feel the two most important goals/objectives were absolutely met!
First and foremost, creating a welcoming and enjoyable experience for Himeno. Having her sad that it was over, says it all.
Second, having the process and event run smooth overall. The SMS queue went smooth, the lottery was smooth, the process for people going in and out was smooth - all fantastic!
In my opinion, the only real area to be discussed comes down to managing demand while balancing accessibility for as many people as possible. Perhaps also creating more specific criteria around the queues and communication.
Here’s a few things I’ve been thinking about:
-
Raise the prices. I felt the price for Arita was beyond reasonable, and the increased price for Himeno was still beyond reasonable. Especially for the Live Q&A. To have an opportunity to sit on a small panel and ask the artist questions first-hand, followed by a personal signature - that’s priceless… so if I had to assign a price, I would set the Live Q&A at $500, but include the 2 signatures in the price. I believe this was limited to 25 people per session, so 75 total.
-
Limit to 2 signatures per person. Meaning, if you qualify for the Live Q&A, you’re not able to register for the queue. Obviously managed through name/phone number/license verification.
-
Move to a mostly “paid” general line queue. Knowing Himeno did approximately 15-20 people per 1.5 hour session (and I know it varies per artist), I could see a structure look something like this:
Following the Live Q&A lottery selection, move to a second “General Line VIP” lottery. Using the same format, anyone that didn’t receive a panel spot can re-enter a second lottery for the General Line VIP. I would restrict this to 10 spots per General Session, or 80 spots total, at a pre-paid, non-refundable cost of $350 which includes the price of 2 signatures. For this price, it would guarantee your spot in line, and you would receive your day and time of your scheduled session in advance so you can make necessary travel arrangements.
I would then consider offering a second “General Line Reservation” Tier following the VIP lottery. Offering a third lottery limited to 5 spots per General Session, 40 spots total at a pre-paid, non-refundable cost of $250 which includes 2 signatures. For this tier, it would guarantee your SPOT in line, and day, but not your time, thus giving the event staff the flexibility on a given day to move these spots to another General Session pending any logistical challenges… while giving some clarity for planning travel.
-
Maintain a general standby queue, but with a few considerations. This is a randomized daily standby queue following the same SMS Queue system (great idea @cpbog1 ). I would consider making this a daily queue reset every day. Meaning you can enter into a queue Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, if you entered into the queue Friday, you would need to re-enter into the queue Saturday, then Sunday, etc. while again sticking to the strict 2 signatures per person limit. This would allow people that can only come for 1 day a chance to enter the queue. For the queue timing, I would start taking people when the doors open, and end taking names for the day one hour prior to the first General Session for the day. Selecting people via lottery each day would provide an equal opportunity of receiving a standby spot for that day, no matter when you entered the queue that day. This would deter people from lining up at 3 am for the queue, because someone that steps up 5 minutes before the queue closes has the same opportunity due to the randomized lottery.
I would see the queue functioning like this - 30 minutes into the first session (starting with VIPs then General Reservations, the pace is determined by the staff, and X number of people receive texts to come to the standby area. 30 minutes later, its determined if additional spots may be open, and X more people receive texts. If for some reason, the artist can’t get to all of the standby spots, people that received texts will be at the start of the standby for the next session. This would continue throughout the weekend.
I would set the cost for the standby at $75 per signature.
Few considerations:
- I believe keeping this accessible is important, so I would consider offering discounts or child pricing for those under 18, and give special considerations to players for timing.
- I’m not sure if there have been any no-shows for the Live Q&A, but if so I would recommend having them pre-check in to confirm they are in attendance, and if not - offer an upgrade to one of the General Line reservations to make sure those sessions are filled.
- If someone doesn’t show up for their General Line reservation, their spot rolls into another person in the standby line.
- The added costs should cover an additional position or two for organizing and managing this throughout the weekend.
- If the artist wants to offer upgrades for things like Sketches, non TCG/etc, that would be purchased in addition to the base cost.
In total, excluding the standby lines, this would be a base revenue of $75,500 ($37,500 for VIP Q&A, $28,000 for General Line VIP, $10,000 for General Line reservations), with potential for more depending on how many people in the standby queue received signatures, and any possible upgrades the artist may offer.
It’s clear the demand is there, so my sense is, not many people will baulk at the pricing. And if so, there’s lower cost options available for those that are willing to take their chances on those days. This will hopefully also minimize flippers, and mainly cater to true fans. Sadly, I saw some recent Arita signatures for sale at vendors in Charlotte.
Again, this is purely about managing the demand, while giving people the opportunity to plan for travel, while also keeping some of it accessible for all at the tournament so it’s not just going to the highest bidders…
