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Frequently Asked Questions:
More FAQs
Last updated: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
- How are guests selected?
- Can I be a guest?
- Will you be getting a Japanese guest?
- Why do you get so many dub voice actors as guests?
- I heard a rumor that _____ would be a guest. Is that true?
- Oh my God! I love Gundam Wing! Can you get them back?
- I noticed that another con had a guest list similar to yours? Did you steal their idea? Did they steal yours?
- Can you get Miyazaki as a guest for me please?
- I'm friends with someone you may want as a guest. Should I invite them for you?
- I'm close friends with someone you have as a guest. Can I meet up with them at the con?
- Why don't you say who you're considering as guests?
- Where do you announce guests?
- Why don't you get more web comic guests?
- What days will the guests be there?
- When can I get autographs?
- What can I have guests sign?
- Can I give the guest a present?
- What is Anime Boston's Autograph Policy?
- How are guests selected?
Anime Boston takes guest suggestions from the public in the Guest Suggestions for Anime Boston 2008 forum thread. These suggestions (as well as suggestions from staff members) are reviewed by the members of the Guest Selection Committee. The committee narrows the list down to about a dozen likely candidates. Once that is done, the Director of Guest Relations begins to track down the potential guests on the list and offer invitations.
Soon after a guest accepts our offer, they are announced and added to the Guests section of the web site. Until a guest is announced, Anime Boston can neither confirm nor deny if someone has been invited as a guest.
- Can I be a guest?
If you're someone who has done something of note in the anime or manga industry, drop us a line! Unfortunately, we receive many more people asking to be guests than we could possibly afford to have at the convention. We need to draw the line somewhere. Please don't be offended if we turn you down...even if you offer to come for free. We hope you understand that our Guest Services staff is limited and they can only handle so much work. However, you are still welcome to attend the convention and can apply to host a panel if you wish.
Note: The decision to invite guests to attend Anime Boston can only be made by the majority of the Guest Selection Committee. No single staff member (including executive staff) has the authority to invite a guest unless approved by a majority of the committee.
- Will you be getting a Japanese guest?
We'll try. Refer to our Guests section to see who has been announced.
- Why do you get so many dub voice actors as guests?
There are a handful of reasons why conventions tend to get more English voice actors than Japanese guests: 1) they're very popular, 2) they're fun people to be around, 3) they speak English, 4) they don't always need staff to escort them if they go out into the city, and 5) they're a lot cheaper than flying in guests from Japan.
- I heard a rumor that _____ would be a guest. Is that true?
It is our policy that Anime Boston staff cannot discuss specific guests until they have been formally announced. From time to time, someone will ask if a specific person or group will be a guest when there has been no formal announcement about that person or group. In these cases, the answer will always be "We can neither confirm nor deny."*
We have to say that because we can't confirm if we do have that unannounced guest. If we deny everyone except for the unannounced guests, it would be pretty easy to figure out who we have by questioning us repeatedly. ...so the answer is always that we can't say if someone is or isn't a guest.
It's best not to ask about unannounced guests and just wait patiently. Even if that guest has us listed on their own web site, we won't say anything until a press release or other formal announcement is issued.
* Thanks to ADV's David Williams for the use of his trademark phrase.
- Oh my God! I love Gundam Wing! Can you get them back?
Anime Boston is proud to be the first and only anime convention ever to unite the five Gundam Wing pilots' voice actors.
We like to bring in new faces, so it's unlikely that we will have all five Gundam Wing pilots' voice actors together at Anime Boston again. However, it's possible we might decide to do something crazy like that for the 25th Anime Boston in 2027.
- I noticed that another con had a guest list similar to yours? Did you steal their idea? Did they steal yours?
In trying to host the best anime convention popular, many conventions end up contacting the same guests and there may be some similarities in the guest lists. Anime Boston never intentionally copies the guest list from another convention. We're confident that other conventions never intentionally copy our list.
- Can you get Miyazaki as a guest for me please?
Yeah, sure. Would you like him to visit your house for dinner too?
- I'm friends with someone you may want as a guest. Should I invite them for you?
Please do not invite guests on behalf of Anime Boston! You're perfectly welcome to send their contact information to Guest Relations, but we strongly urge people not to invite guests on their own.
Why? Let's say, for example, that a regular fan tells a voice actor named Jane Doe that "lots of people at Anime Boston want you as a guest! You should come!" Jane interprets that as an invitation and is naturally excited by the idea. Time passes. As the convention draws close, Jane contacts Anime Boston asking about her guest status. Naturally, the convention staff is bewildered since our Guest Selection Committee never sent her an invitation. This now puts the convention in an awkward position of possibly offending a potential future guest by informing her that she can't come afterall...or going over budget in the guest expenses by adding another name to the roster.
This sort of thing has happened to us in the past. Please help us avoid it and do not contact guests on our behalf. If you want to do us a favor and help, just forward the guest's contact info to Guest Relations...but do not invite the guest yourself!
Thank you.
- I'm friends with someone you have as a guest. Can I meet up with them at the con?
Everyone is welcome to attend the guest panels. You can say hello there.
- Why don't you say who you're considering as guests?
There are actually several reasons why we don't share the list of people we're inviting as guests:
- We want to avoid rumors that guests may attend Anime Boston...because rumors tend to be read as facts on the Internet. We don't want people showing up to Anime Boston expecting to see someone who was only rumored to be attending.
- If it turns out a guest can't come for some reason, it could potentially upset fans who either blame the convention (for not trying hard enough, not being willing to pay excessive expenses, etc.) or the guests (for not being able to make time for the convention, choosing to attend a different convention, etc.).
- We prefer to discuss our convention with potential guests ourselves. If everyone else knew who we were talking with, they might get approached by non-staff which could lead to confusion as to who is doing the actual inviting. (See the FAQ question directly above this for the reasons why this could be bad.)
- It irritates us when people post on the forums or LiveJournal claiming to know who we're inviting. (Nearly everyone who has done so in the past has been wrong.) If they're right, they've ruined the surprise and annoyed us for doing so. If they're wrong, well, see our earlier comment about rumors. If, for some reason, you know who a guest is that we haven't announced, do us a favor and keep it quiet until we're ready to announce!
- We like surprises.
Often, we may have guests confirmed but are waiting for something before making a formal announcement. We may be working out details, waiting for a bio, waiting for a similar guest so that they can be announced in the same press release, waiting for a publicity photo, etc. There are always valid reasons why we haven't announced guests right away. Once everything is worked out and we have everything we're waiting for, we then make a formal guest announcement.
- Where do you announce guests?
Guest announcements are posted on our home page, our guests page, our forums, our official LiveJournal community, our podcast, and AnimeCons.com in addition to being sent out to anime news web sites and other appropriate places.
- Why don't you get more web comic guests?
Why don't you put on some pants?
- What days will the guests be there?
Unless we say otherwise, all of our guests will be at the convention for all three days. Guests will have various panels and autograph signings scheduled throughout the weekend. There is no one day when you can attend all the guest panels and get all their autographs. (There aren't enough hours in the day for us to do that even if we tried.)
- When can I get autographs?
When the autograph schedules have been set, they will be announced. Scheduled autograph signings will be scheduled throughout the weekend. Be sure to check the schedule at the convention since many autograph sessions are not on the same day as the guest's Q&A panel. Contrary to popular belief, Q&A panels are not intended for autograph signing. Autograph seekers will get turned away...even if you're only at the convention for that one day or you missed an earlier autograph session.
- What can I have guests sign?
To be fair to everyone that would like an autograph, there is a limit of two autograph items per person.
Good autograph items:
- DVD cover of a show a person was involved with
- The inside cover of a book an artist or writer's work appears in
- Anime Boston program guide (it has autograph space in the back)
- An autograph book
- Blank paper
Bad autograph items:
- Bootlegged or unlicensed items
- Items from shows the person was not in
- Items from shows you suspect the person was in and credited under an alias
- Body parts
- T-shirts (they're difficult to write on)
- Convention badges (they're very small and guests like to write big)
- Food (including jars of pickles)
- Can I give the guest a present?
Yes, but...
- ...do it when it's your turn at the autograph session.
- ...don't give them food. They probably won't eat food from strangers and some guests have food alergies.
- ...don't ask them to put on a shirt right away. Some guests are modest.
- ...don't expect anything special in return.
- What is Anime Boston's Autograph Policy?
You can find our Autograph Policy in our Convention Policies section.
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