It kills me every time.
I'm running down a hallway, breathless, dodging cosplayers and their unnecessarily massive props. I spin to the left to avoid a impromptu photo session. I dart to the right to get a quick eyeful of that frilly I-don't-know-what-she's-dressed-as-but-she's-hot girl while continuing to sprint to the next panel room.
"Lemme see your badge," says the surly volunteer door person. "Okay, press. You're fine. Go in."
When I get there, I sit down, pop open my laptop, wipe the sweat from my brow, and take a quick survey of the room. It's gray. They walls are gray. The table and chairs are gray. It's drab and boring, and I'm still hot from running. Now the fans and attendees are piling in in the seats behind me. Pseudo-journalists sit to the left and right of me. Of course, they've been there for some time now. Six kinds of pens in their pockets, notebooks at-the-ready.
And then it starts. Half-assed Powerpoint slides are shown. Current and previously announced titles are rehashed for 50 minutes. And then an announcement. A cheer. A blog. And then I dash out of this panel room, headed to the next.
Why does it have to be this way?
First, the question needs to be asked: How does announcing a new product to a room full of cosplayers (and a small group of press) benefit these companies? I don't think it does. At best, said company will have the announced product ready to sell at the convention they announce it at, and they might benefit from a little sales boost from the excitement of the announcement. But my argument to that would be that any fan that would pack into that panel room was probably already willing to pick up this company's product anyway.
Maybe they think that telling fans about a new product first is a way of serving these fans first. That's nice, but e-mail works just a well. So does the internet. In fact, the few press people that are there are there for the very purpose of dropping your new announcement on the internet. Why not beat them to that? Companies, save yourself (and myself) the trouble and announce it on your company Web site. Send out those press releases. Save that airfare and send these press members a preview disc or something. Wouldn't any of that work better than telling the news a room of 63 fans?
Sometimes I get the feeling that these companies hold back announcements for specific events. How many times have we heard something like 'we could tell you now, but you'll have to wait for Otakon' ? Why? If you can say it now, say it? In fact, don't even wait for the con you'd normally bait people at. Just announce it online! And really, why tease attendees at a California con about an announcement that will be made at a convention they probably won't be attending? Who are you helping by doing this?
I appreciate the events that bring in producers or voice actors or other staff to give us more details on a new announcement. Those are worth everyone's time: fans and press. We all love to hear (and write about) the work that went on behind-the-scenes of your newly announced product. But, for every one of these great panels, there's the guy who "just flew in last night," there to blurt out a list of new acquisitions and then maybe announce something new. And sometimes not. It seems that there are a few staple occurrences for these events:
- sometimes compay reps "flew in" for nothing, and the announcement couldn't be made, wasting everyone's time
- sometimes the announcement is something so trivial that you want to snap your laptop in half
- there's always that asshole in the room that "already knew" of the announcement
- most of the time, everyone that did NOT go to your panel already has it up on their Web site or blog
Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of having a presence at the major conventions. But I feel that their time and money could be better spent doing something interesting and productive. If you're going to take an hour to announce one or two products, do something more than give us a "sneak peek" of a product we've probably seen all 26 episodes of. Ditch the Powerpoint. Lose the "previous con recap." Tell us something new. Show us something cool. Let us talk to someone involved.
Save the announcements for press releases and the boring sites that copy and paste them! You've got a panel room for an hour. Look at that as an opportunity, and not a chore. Use your (and our) time wisely!
22 comments
