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Post by khuynh on May 24, 2015 22:04:30 GMT -5
It's my 9th year at the convention but my first time as a seller and my overall experience for this year's Nominoichi was a very positive one. I remember my first time as a buyer it was held at the Sheraton in one of the double rooms. Very small with no more than 25~30 sellers and now it's become a massive event.
Pros:
Spacious - lots of space for buyers to move between tables and for sellers behind them
Good ventilation - kept the room cool enough to hold hundreds and hundreds of shoppers
Good communication - outside noise kept to a minimal to allow for better buyer-shopper interactions
Punctual - wasn't much of a delay and doors opened shortly after scheduled time
Separate seller and buyer line - great idea splitting up seller line to odds and evens
Cons: Not exactly related to Nominoichi but I suggest having more staff outside of the building on opening day to direct traffic. Have staff members hold up signs on a long stick to point people in the right direction where they're intended on going is a lot more easier and efficient than con goers finding and asking staff members for directions. The added safety patrols to and from the big parking lot past the water tower was a nice addition though.
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Post by SalisofKnight on May 24, 2015 23:26:29 GMT -5
It's my 9th year at the convention but my first time as a seller and my overall experience for this year's Nominoichi was a very positive one. I remember my first time as a buyer it was held at the Sheraton in one of the double rooms. Very small with no more than 25~30 sellers and now it's become a massive event. Pros: Spacious - lots of space for buyers to move between tables and for sellers behind them Good ventilation - kept the room cool enough to hold hundreds and hundreds of shoppers Good communication - outside noise kept to a minimal to allow for better buyer-shopper interactions Punctual - wasn't much of a delay and doors opened shortly after scheduled time Separate seller and buyer line - great idea splitting up seller line to odds and evens Cons: Not exactly related to Nominoichi but I suggest having more staff outside of the building on opening day to direct traffic. Have staff members hold up signs on a long stick to point people in the right direction where they're intended on going is a lot more easier and efficient than con goers finding and asking staff members for directions. The added safety patrols to and from the big parking lot past the water tower was a nice addition though. We had some of these but they were damaged and tossed out there will be more next year though. |
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Post by aznsamsung on May 25, 2015 10:00:35 GMT -5
This year was not bad as a buyer once again ... Problem was the line up for buyer as it was move around alot ... At the same time ... I notice that it was a bit harder for me to find the table number i have thing reserve for maybe next year have a big map near the staff table so ppl know wat table they are headed for
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Post by lugiap2k on May 25, 2015 11:06:47 GMT -5
Thanks for another great year! Everything seemed to run smoothly from what I could tell.
The only thing I'd suggest doing differently next year is maybe not having sellers enter through the main doors/the ones next to the parking garage. It was pretty difficult to try and move through the crowd/lines gathered there with all of our stuff.
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Post by mechanizations on May 25, 2015 15:10:19 GMT -5
Mhm yeah I was running behind (since I had to get my badge in the International as a panelist) and was confused on if we were supposed to butt in front of everyone trying to get badges/dealers room. However I found some other (very nice) sellers and we asked a staff member and they directed us to just go in and we were let in no problem. The seller line up was much better then last year and I definitely appreciated the guide to my table! My friends did tell me the buyer line was a) super long and b) confusing. But obviously with such huge numbers it's hard to get everyone on the same train of thought. Overall Nominoichi was great for my second year selling!
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Post by archangeli on May 25, 2015 20:29:35 GMT -5
This was my first nomi as a seller and it was a very positive experience. Pros: Having the sellers and buyers in completely separate lines was brilliant. The check-in process was very smooth, it was a nice touch having someone to show us to our table. A nomi staffer came by as we were setting up to see how we were doing/ if we needed anything. We were fine, but I appreciated it  Cons: For myself nothing. I had a buyer come pick up his reserved items and he mentioned that he had been directed to another line and been trapped there for a while. I think other forum members have already posted and elaborated on this so hopefully it can be addressed or next year? Thanks to the nominoichi team and staff for all your hard work! ^__^" |
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Post by shance on May 25, 2015 20:55:59 GMT -5
I was just a buyer this year. The only flaw I saw as a buyer (and this was a nitpick) was the confusion about the entry and exit. Other than that, Nomi was really well-organized this year. Your staff seem to really care about what we attendees and sellers think, and most of the "bads" I remember from last year were fixed this year. Great job!
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Post by Taochan on May 25, 2015 22:58:13 GMT -5
Good: This year was so much better organized, honestly! The line ran quickly and smoothly. The volunteers doing the badge checking and leading to tables were awesome. It was probably the best it's ever been run in all of my years being a Nomi seller.  Great job! Bad: Not sure how much this can be helped, but the volunteers for AN who were not part of the Nomi had literally no idea where it was or how to get to it. There were several volunteers outside of the TCC giving multiple sellers several different directions and all of them were wrong. My group luckily ran into other Nomi sellers who were going back for more items and they told us where to go so everything worked out really well from there. |
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Post by shinobixikyu on May 25, 2015 22:59:30 GMT -5
Definitely my smoothest Nominoichi of my three total! No problems getting there or set up, and my sales went very well (most of my stuff sold, even a lot of the stuff I thought I would NEVER get rid of, though disappointingly, most of my manga didn't move and it's one of my biggest space-takers). My only suggestion is to try an overhead label of table sections, by letter or numbers like 180-200 and 201-221, that kind of thing, like they have (for example) at MTCC's dealers room to give people a general "go here for this" clue when looking for tables in a crowded room. I got a lot of buyers asking me if I knew which way to go for a specific table.
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Post by ThriKreen on May 26, 2015 10:37:27 GMT -5
This year was not bad as a buyer once again ... Problem was the line up for buyer as it was move around alot ... At the same time ... I notice that it was a bit harder for me to find the table number i have thing reserve for maybe next year have a big map near the staff table so ppl know wat table they are headed for Yeah, the little scrawl in the corner didn't help, we weren't expecting that either. I think we'll have to have a large sign pole at the ends of each row listing what range that row covers. Putting the table number on a sheet of paper in front would get obscured too easily. Or maybe someone can make an app for the Nominoichi to hook the sellers up to a database and a mobile app that links to it so you can search for the table and have it highlighted on the app... ...and I might have just volunteered myself. XD |
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rairi
New Member
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Post by rairi on May 26, 2015 11:07:24 GMT -5
Overall it was great! The buyers line was really well organized, I think, and the staff keeping it in order were really nice! The room itself was very spacious too.
Only a couple issues that I have:
It was confusing to know where the line was, since the giant "Nominoichi" sign inside the TCC didn't indicate that it was exit only. It should have been made a bit more clear where the entrance actually was.
It seemed harder than usual to find specific tables? But I have no idea why that might have been.
Also, the staff table at the Nomi should have been marked better. I wasn't really sure it was staff at first since they were also selling things, so I feel like it should have better signage.
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Post by straywind on May 26, 2015 22:50:02 GMT -5
I thought the organization was great this year. Once I got into the Congress Centre and figured out where the sellers line was, it was a very straightforward process. I know there were delays because of the leaking situation last year, but things were super smooth this year. I had wanted to line up at 5, but I didn't get to the line until after 5:30 and it took maybe 10-15 minutes to get through it. The line was super short too. I had plenty of time to set up.
It was kind of scary to figure out how to get into the building though. I had thought we maybe had to wait in the line to get in and it was ridiculously long! Thankfully a volunteer told me to just go to a door to get in. I suppose it was in the brief that we should do that, but when you get boots on the ground and you're faced with that line, you feel like a bit of a jerk skipping through. I guess with the boxes and suitcase I did look like a dealer and no one questioned me when I got to the doors.
I do agree that some sort of visible signage for the rows would be good. Signs on poles or something. I had to pick up some holds and since I went around just before opening, I was still able to see the paper table numbers. I had a large sign for my table, but I had to tape it to the front of the table so hardly anyone could see it once the crowds arrived.
Also, if there could be a bit more space for those two end tables that sort of endcap the rows it might be good. It was workable, but the table beside me that was an endcap table had a lot of boxes and didn't really have the space to store their stuff. It just made it difficult for me to store my stuff and for sellers trying to exit and enter the behind the table area to maneuver. The map made it seem like their would be a bit of distance for those endcap tables, but everything was really smooshed together.
Anyway, I had a great time and I'll hopefully participate again next year. Thanks to everyone that organized the event! (^_^)
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Post by zellerific on May 27, 2015 14:44:12 GMT -5
Nominoichi was pretty great this year Chris!! Thank you!
All I have to say is that trying to find where we were supposed to line up was hard though, and I had to ask 4 staff members outside before finally they told me where to go! I completely understand it's hard to find out where everyone is supposed to be, but maybe staff should be notified which door we should at least go in?
Thanks again Chris & Nomi Staff~!
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Post by kotoshin on May 27, 2015 20:17:07 GMT -5
Also, if there could be a bit more space for those two end tables that sort of endcap the rows it might be good. It was workable, but the table beside me that was an endcap table had a lot of boxes and didn't really have the space to store their stuff. It just made it difficult for me to store my stuff and for sellers trying to exit and enter the behind the table area to maneuver. The map made it seem like their would be a bit of distance for those endcap tables, but everything was really smooshed together. Anyway, I had a great time and I'll hopefully participate again next year. Thanks to everyone that organized the event! (^_^) I was one of the end table sellers (N171) and I believe I was the main cause of your traffic impediment as I brought WAAAY too much stuff. Learnt my lesson. I apologize for this (and I think I had to keep righting your figurine boxes as I'd keep squeezing past and knock them unbalanced) - it won't happen next year. Apart from reservations there will only be TWO BOXES more of stuff maximum. Anything else is off the list. EDIT: I'd also like to thank Chris and all the other staff/volunteers - it's gotten SO MUCH BIGGER that I hardily recognize it anymore. I'll probably come back as a buyer solely once I clear enough stuff. XD AHAHAHA. |
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Post by rainbows on May 28, 2015 11:27:59 GMT -5
As a buyer, the Nominoichi seemed to run rather well in my opinion.
Pros:
1. Liked the new hall that the Nomi was moved too; seemed to have a lot more space available in the aisles for people to move about easier.
2. The buyer entrance being outside was a great idea. The line up for 2014 was confusing as the line seemed to merge with the voice actor lines after a while.
3. Staff tried to keep the line running smoothly and the many snakes of the line from merging together.
4. (Not sure if it was included last year or not as I didn't attend the Nomi till later) But, I liked the inclusion of the map of all the sellers booth locations. I ended up printing one out and highlighting the booths I was stopping at to pick up things.
Cons:
1. Started looking for the line for the Nominoichi around 6, the staff/volunteers I talked to at first weren't too sure where the entrance was. Originally, I got sent into TCC and eventually wound up over by the autographs. Those people pointed me towards Hall A; and since it was the exit, the guys watching the exit pointed us in the right direction. Perhaps a sign somewhere outside signifying where the entrance is?
2. (No big deal for me) But not always being able to see the booth number hanging from their table/fallen off/etc. But, since I had a map print out, I'd just ask them if there was 'number XX' and go from there.
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Great job!
