Experience Survey 2024: Evolution

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Photo: Juju in the Box

Experience Survey 2024: Magicon Evolution

First of all – a big thank you to everyone who shared their experience at Magicon! Your feedback is very valuable to us and we will make adjustments based on it.

Let’s look at the demographic:

12% had never been to a cosplay convention before. Welcome to the community!
43% are OGs from the very first Magicon.
63% went to Magicon Elevation in 2023. Glad to have you back!

Let’s look at some average scores:

9.0 on having a varied program.
7.5 on being a professionally run convention.
8.3 on being an inclusive convention.
7.3 on the ease of finding the information you needed.
8.6 on listening to what the community wants.
6.9 on the quality of our SoMe content.
9.3 on being a safe convention to attend.
9.1 on being a good influence on the community.

Visitor quote

Just like last year, the con was a blast! As a disabled cosplayer, I really appreciate the opportunities to sit down almost everywhere and take a breather. I also appreciate the mocktail bar, delicious drinks and nicely priced! I had an amazing weekend, thank you for having me!

Photo: Juju in the Box

Let’s see what the Art Stands think:

9.0 on getting the information they needed before applying.
8.2 on the communication after being selected.
7.1 on fair pricing
7.8 on the marketing Magicon did on behalf of the Art Stands.

95% were able to turn a profit.
98% want to have an Art Stand at a future Magicon Convention.

Art Stands quote

Thank you for the amazing time and experience. I’ve never been so happy at a con before. Great people, great event, great atmosphere.

Next up, our Invited Guests:

9.0 on the information they received before Evolution.
9.0 on the planning phase.
9.7 on how quickly we answered questions they had.
9.3 on how we handled concerns or requests.
9.3 on how likely they would be to work with us again.
9.5 on if Magicon is a good influence on the Norwegian cosplay community.

Invited Guest quote

I’m super grateful for everything. The event was great, the crew was fantastic, everything was super well organised and professional… I’ve been to many events as a guest and I wished they were like yours! It totally felt like home. Thank you so so much for everything.

Photo: Katrix Media

Now, importantly: what does our crew think?

9.5 on how good the recruitment process was.
8.5 on how clear each crew member’s roles and tasks were.
8.6 on how well they worked with their Chief.
8.7 on if they considered their Chief good at their role.
9.9 on the workload before the Con.
9.2 on the workload during the Con.
9.6 on if Magicon is a good influence on the Norwegian cosplay community.
9.5 on feeling pride in the work they do for Magicon.
9.4 on feeling like their opinions are being taken seriously.
8.8 on the selection of food and drinks for the crew.
9.6 on if Magicon is an inclusive organisation.

99% would like to be a part of the crew in the future.
99.8% feels like Magicon gives enough back to the crew.

We’re so glad to see that lots of people had a great time, it really makes all the effort worth it! Don’t stress, we’re always working on making things better, and we’ve already got some plans for improvements.

Crew quote

I LOVE YOU ALL. Magicon always leaves me with such a strong feeling of pride and joy and has helped me grow so much as a person.

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Photo: Juju in the Box

For those interested, here’s further reading with comments from the Producer.

Goods, unsuited for sale at a PG13 convention:

We have already updated our contract template for commercial vendors, which will not allow them to sell goods that are inappropriate for children. This will allow us to take immediate action, should said situation arise. Internal processes have also been clarified, so the correct decisions can be made immediately.

Saturday delay:

We had a 20 min delay on Saturday from the opening show, which we were unfortunately unable to catch up on. This led to many people being affected, and undesirable outcomes for us, the contenders and of course the visitors. The reason for the delay is twofold. 1: We’ve never rigged a live band before, and underestimated the work it required. Easy fix, we plan more time for this. 2: There was a very awkward oversight with the microphones, where we tested them backstage and they worked fine, but they didn’t on stage. This was because the antenna for the receiver wasn’t installed properly. It’ll be on the checklist for next year for sure.

“You shouldn’t have art stands in the basement”:

Yes we should, and we will again. Probably even more. This year, the majority of the art stands in Betong chose to be there. There’s several reasons for this: it’s quieter, they get to see amazing panels, the temperature is better, they can play with lighting to make their booth look great (which they did) and much more. These are important factors to many artists. I would like to encourage the people who think this way to not make assumptions on behalf of others. It serves no benefit to you, us or the art stands.

“I couldn’t find the art stands”:

Chateau Neuf is not an ideal venue for a Cosplay Convention. That said, there are none in Oslo. So we do what we can. We will continue to improve signage and information on this, however…We increased the number of maps at the venue from six to 40(!) and increased them in size from A3 to A2. We published the maps on SoMe and on our website. We released an app with easy access to the map wherever you may be. The location of the art stands were communicated from the main stage each day. Combine all of this with the fact that almost all art stands were able to turn a profit (good traffic), and the low number of complaints, we believe that this is a non-issue that we have done as much as possible to counteract. If you can’t find the art stands, there are also a lot of crew members that are very happy to help you find them. However – we will of course still try to improve on this point if possible

Visitor quote:

Adding onto the con experience, I loved that there were so many Art stands and commercial vendors this year! Everyone I went with found something they liked because it was such a wide range of products, and I really appreciated how a lot of Art Stands returned. It makes Magicon more familiar and inclusive.

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Photo: Juju in the Box

The Photo Competition:

The judge did not know any of the contenders, and none of the contenders knew who the judge was. 1/13 of the contenders were in the Magicon Crew. The winner, who happened to be in the crew, is not working as a professional photographer, but is evidently a very good one. Magicon will continue to enforce these non-bias systems, as we strive to do in all competitions. If the competition becomes more popular, we’ll definitely consider making tiers, like with the cosplay competitions.

Now! Onto the quickfire round:

“The FOMO is too great at Magicon”:

Yup, and it’ll only be more in the future. We want the program at Magicon to cater to a large variety of people with lots of different interests! Sometimes in life you just have to choose.

Visitor quote:

When it comes to the program and con experience, I really liked it!!

Magicons location is very tactically placed near grocery stores, food chains, and of course the Metro Station. This makes it more accessible and easier to find!

As for the program, the balance between the educational panels to the purely entertaining ones (cat memes hh) attracted a wider target audience I reckon. That was an inclusive decision.

“There’s little access to food”:

Correct, as last year, we tried to get some food trucks, but alas, they all say we’re too small for them to bother. I guess they’re spoiled for choice here in the capital. There’s also no kitchen we can use. There was however paninis in the bar, and two grocery stores within a couple of blocks. Not ideal, so we’ll continue to look for other solutions.

“There’s no medics”:

Incorrect, there were at least 28 staff with first aid certification, security from the external company has extensive medical training, and we even had a nurse.

“Expensive tickets”:

I’ll address this in the financial report coming out in the next few weeks, when all accounts have been settled.

“You had crewmembers who weren’t speaking Norwegian, which increased the ticket price”:

Not everyone who lives in Norway speaks Norwegian, which is one of the fundamental reasons Magicon is held in English. Let’s all put our words into action, and actually be as inclusive as we say we are, yes?

“We weren’t allowed to do our makeup in the accessible toilets”:

Correct, that’s not allowed.

“I didn’t know that mocktails didn’t have alcohol in them, so you shouldn’t have sold that”:

…?

“The international guests was the reason for the price increase this year”:

Incorrect. We spent less on international guests this year. At Magicon you don’t have to make up shit like this, we give you the facts after each convention. Again, stay tuned for the financial report coming in the next few weeks.

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Photo: Juju in the Box

With that out of the way, let me quickly tell you about changes we’ll make:

Adjustments to the cos-gear rules
Rework the bag check system,
Clearer expectation management towards certain competitions
Closer collaboration with the in-house tech team
Clearer instructions on location and time for contenders
Make the experience for art-stands even better
Judges will elaborate on why they made the decisions they did during the award ceremony
Continue to improve how the FeelGood crew works with visitors
Improve the app and release it on iOS
Adjust what the host spends time on while on stage
Keep looking for a better venue
Improve signage and wayfinding
Work towards getting Cosplay Medic to join us again
…and many, many other things

This list is just what you’ve given feedback on, but we have our own list which is even longer than this one. We strive to improve, and will continue to do so as long as Magicon exists.

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Photo: Juju in the Box

Conclusion

It is in its very nature that these reports focus on the sub-optimal issues of the event. That’s fine, but all in all the con went by very smoothly. We identified the errors that caused the delays, fixed them, and had basically everything in order for the second day. Unexpected scenarios will always happen and it’s our ability to handle it that matters. Next time we hope to not only fix the issues, but also catch up again if we get any delays.

We started working on Magicon Evolution back in August 2023, it’s been our biggest project so far, collectively putting down over 8500 hours of volunteer work. We hope that you also remember that it is just that, volunteer work, mostly done by people who have no experience in this field. Magicon is bold, takes up a lot of space, disrupts some traditions and does its very best to present itself as a professionally run convention. This is a double edged sword, as it on the one hand builds a trustworthy reputation giving us opportunities we’d never have without, but at the same time, expectations of us become unfairly high. Almost everyone who commented about the delay in the form, gave Magicon a 1/10 on professionalism. Not really fair in my opinion, but it is what it is.

For Magicon Evolution, we wanted to evolve ourselves. We wanted to appeal to even more people, showcase more talents within the cosplay community (and outside), send qualifiers to yet another international competition, give K-pop some proper space, while also adding more casual activities for those who prefer those. Magicon is starting to settle in, while not becoming too comfortable, as next year will be even more Unchained.

Like last year, we’re pleased to see a lot of first-timers (12% of our guests) are choosing Magicon as their first Cosplay Convention. The community needs new members, with new ideas and goals. New is scary, but new is fun, if it’s done right.

I also want to thank you for all your support, not just in this feedback form, but also throughout the entire year. We have a Discord channel for crewmembers where we share screenshots of all the kind words you post on SoMe. It’s so heartwarming and encouraging for us. As always, let’s put our hands together for all of Magicons hard-working volunteers. They put down months of work, for people they likely don’t know, for a community they may not even be a part of, all for free.

A final thank you to everyone who has filled out the form and provided us with constructive feedback in a friendly manner, with the intention of helping us to become better. You know who you are!

That’s it for me this time. I’ll be back with the financial report as soon as I have closed the main accounts. I know some of you will be surprised about a lot of the statistics.

/ProducerChan – Christopher Helland – Chairman Magicon