We regret to inform our members that Salem State ACM will not be holding the Otaku Fest event in 2010. Following a series of discussions between our agents and Salem State Campus Center staff, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be able to deliver the event with an acceptable level of quality that we feel our members could enjoy.
The reason for the cancellation regards a limitation of our event to five hours by the Student Life staff at the Campus Center. This restriction was put into place for reasons involving doubt that we’d be able to securely run an event of that size for any longer than five hours, despite our developing track record of sustainable event planning in the past.
After speaking with the main acts of the proposed event, the interest our guests and artists gave in going to a five hour event dropped dramatically.
Additionally, we received insulting comments from EIB booking towards our organization, claiming that the fault in planning management was on SSC ACM’s plate. We wanted to ensure all of our members know that the Salem State administration posed these certain limitations on the event which prohibited us from running the kind of event that we wanted to do.
We also experienced a hard time scheduling all of the pieces of this event due to a lack in timely responses from involved parties. Throughout the process, most parties who we partnered with delivered information to us that was late, incomplete, or added additional and unrelated requirements to the event plan, possibly in an interest of making the event unplannable by overcomplicated means.
Faced with the decision of cost versus profit, and in a pursuit only to deliver the best possible events to our guests, it became a mutual decision between the booking agents, bands, and Salem State ACM to cancel the event.
We believe that the limitations imposed on Salem State ACM for this event sincerely cost legitimate time and money from both SSC ACM and from the dealers, artists, and many other parties that were going to attend this event. We also feel that the amount of time it took to receive proper responses from Salem State’s administration and EIB booking caused a delay in communication, with ACM in the middle, that caused major concern for everyone involved. Despite the loss, SSC ACM will not pursue any means to reconcile the funds that would have been made, except by scheduling and planning events that we’ve already established to be successful in past years.
Salem State ACM will continue to strive to create fun events that everyone can enjoy within our mission. We will be exploring options for another Salem State ACM LAN Party this upcoming year. Known previously as the SSC ACM LAN Party Superbowl, the event gathered about one-hundred people for a massive all-day gaming event with prizes and tons of fun!
Keep tuned to Salem State ACM’s mailing list and website for updates on all things Anime and Tech related!
Love & peace,
Angela Morley
SSC ACM President
http://salemstateacm.org
