Anime Crossroads 3
Anime Crossroads was held for its third year at the Indianapolis Marriott East over the weekend of December 16-18, 2011. Because of some issues that had occurred the previous year and lagging pre-registration numbers, there were some real concerns about how this year's convention would go. We decided it might be best to swing by the hotel before supper and check how things were doing. As it turned out, there were some problems, mostly on the order of miscommunications, and the early visit enabled us to clear some stuff up before they became major difficulties.
After supper we returned for the staff orientation meeting. Then we headed over to the dealers' room to help everyone get loaded in. We hadn't been there long before we discovered why one of our biggest merchants, who usually arrives early to get his massive store set up, was nowhere to be seen. He'd had not one but two flat tires and was going to be five hours late. Not an auspicious note on which to begin a show.
At least things were working smoothly enough that we didn't have to operate in crisis mode the entire time, and I even had some time to write. But by the time the one dealer finally arrived and got all his stuff loaded in, it was after midnight. I was very glad to get back home and to bed. After feeding the cat, of course.
Friday morning came way too early after such a late bedtime, but we dragged ourselves up and back over to the hotel to get the dealers' room open. Dealers filtered in and got to work setting up. Things went smoothly enough that I was able to do some writing, mostly on book reviews. I also got an opportunity to talk with some people I hadn't seen in a while.
Still, I was tired enough that I was glad to get home at the end of the day. It took a little longer than usual to get everybody out of the dealers' room, so we were later than anticipated, but at least it wasn't midnight this time.
On Saturday morning I had another activity to go to, so I didn't get to the hotel until shortly after noon. We ate lunch, and then dealt with some issues that had cropped up. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon fighting weariness and writing book reviews.
Near the end, there was some sudden excitement when a mouse went scampering across the room. We told the hotel and they agreed to set traps after the dealers were out for the evening. So we ended up having to stay even later to get that taken care of. I was very glad to get home for supper and shut-eye.
Sunday morning we returned to get the dealers' room doors open in time for dealer set-up. Things were slow enough that I was able to do some work on my writing, until dealers started carrying stuff out and I needed to watch the door to make sure nobody got in who wasn't supposed to. Once the dealers' room closed, load-out began in earnest and I was busy supervising logistics until we got everyone out.
Once we had all the dealers out, we headed over to the main events hall for the dead dog party. Before we got to have our pizza, we had to carry out a bunch of stuff that belonged to the organizing company and load it onto the van to go back to Atlanta. By the time we got done, we had only a few people left who hadn't taken off, so there was more than enough pizza for everyone to eat.
Then we headed back home for some much-needed rest. I had several books to ship that had sold over the weekend, but I was tired enough that I decided it could all wait until Monday, when I was rested.
Copyright 2012 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated October 21, 2012.